Seven the Hard Way for Lakers

They teetered. They weaved. They winged up shots that flew in the face of logic and landed nowhere near the basket.

At times, they performed their own version of the Washington Wizard Way of Chaotic Basketball.

And the Lakers still won, 91-80, for the seventh time in a row, probably the ugliest one yet, but still part of a nice seven-piece collector’s set.

Whoever said winning had to be pretty in the first place?

The Lakers made it look hard Tuesday against the Wizards, made what should have been a no-sweat game into a fourth-quarter worry before 17,571 at Staples Center, and almost by coincidence made it all the way into first place in the Pacific Division.

The victory, coupled with Portland’s loss to the Miami Heat, gave the 15-4 Lakers a half-game lead atop the Pacific Division and the best record in the NBA.

In each of their seven consecutive victories, the Lakers have held the opponent under 40% shooting.

So, fittingly, in this game, the Lakers started to pull away not with a huge offensive showcase, but by holding Washington to only 13 points in the third quarter--on six-for-20 shooting.

Coach Phil Jackson, as his nature, downplayed the significance of the long winning streak and pointed to tonight’s game against Sacramento as an early-season barometer.

“When it’s 10 in a row, then I’ll be pleased,” Jackson said. “I think this team’s capable of winning 10 in a row. It’ll be a good landmark for us to say that this is a team that can win 10 in a row.”

Meanwhile, Shaquille O’Neal started warming up, finishing with 30 points, 20 in the second half.

“It was a sloppy game today,” said O’Neal, who also had seven of the team’s 15 blocked shots (Robert Horry had five) and 16 rebounds.

“We probably got too much rest. We got the day off in the morning--I slept all day. But we did what we had to do and we got a win.”

O’Neal said that through emphatic victories and survival tests, the Lakers’ game-by-game march is proving skeptics wrong.

“We’re doing OK,” O’Neal said. “Some people, including you guys, including some guys in the locker room, didn’t expect us to go this far. But I expected us to do this. We’ve lost four games, two of them we should’ve won [O’Neal was ejected for one loss and suspended for another].”

Kobe Bryant also came on at the end with 21 points, 16 in the second half.

“Kobe gave us a lift [in the third quarter] after I thought one of his most anxious first halves,” said Jackson, who didn’t get Bryant into the game until the start of the second quarter.

“It’s my fault, I left him on the bench too long at the beginning of the game--he got anxious.”

The third-quarter defense lengthened a 41-40 halftime lead to 58-53, and each additional Wizard misfire (Juwan Howard was three for 16, Ike Austin three for 10) seemed to demoralize them further.

But the Lakers couldn’t fashion the scoring burst that would have sealed the game, and a Mitch Richmond basket narrowed the Laker lead to 75-69 with 4:12 left in the game.

Bryant answered with two fall-away jumpers to push the lead back up to 83-73 with 2:29 left, and the Wizards never threatened again.

For the first time this season, Jackson canceled the morning shoot-around, aiming to keep the team fresh for the upcoming schedule, which includes a quick trip up to Sacramento for a 5 p.m. start.

But whether it was the time off or merely a lack of energy, the Lakers were definitely off their rhythm in the first half against the Wizards.

“We did a little different game plan today,” Jackson said before the game. “We’re trying to save some legs during the course of this week, two back-to-backs and a five o’clock game tomorrow.

“We’ve kind of eased off the throttle a little bit and we’re going to see how this team responds to it.”

After a clumsy, 19-19 first quarter, the Lakers kept edging out to a decent lead in the second, but kept throwing up bad shots or making turnovers to keep the Wizards in it.

Washington was by no means sharp--Howard missed eight of his 10 first-half shots, and as a team, Washington was only 17 for 49 in the half (34.7%).

But the Lakers were only five for 12 from the free-throw line, and saw Bryant endure his shakiest half since his comeback, making only two of his seven shots and only one of his four free throws.

At halftime, the Lakers led, 41-40, thanks to Rick Fox’s four-for-four shooting, but still hadn’t gotten O’Neal the ball consistently inside (10 points, 11 rebounds).