Lakers Feeling Right at Home

This, for a dramatic change, was no playoff preview or agonizing session of Laker scream therapy.

There were no stunts involved in the Lakers’ 115-102 victory over the Dallas Mavericks before 17,505 at the Great Western Forum on Monday, no sideshows and no blatant underachieving.

After 48 previous games, most of them necessitating psychology degrees and pro wrestling vocabularies to fully comprehend, on Monday night, it was merely a Laker team honing into playoff readiness against a team inching toward its long-deserved long off-season.

“This is the team that we should be,” said Laker forward Robert Horry. “We have so much talent on this team--a lot of headliners.

“But everybody can score when we keep the ball hopping like that. It makes it easier for everybody... It’s good to see guys gearing up, really buckling down right before the playoffs.”

This one, the penultimate game of a raucous Laker regular season and their third consecutive victory, was routine.

You know the Lakers were humming when the story, in part, was about Kobe Bryant passing the ball, which he did quite well on his way to a career-high 10 assists--which also tied the Lakers’ best total this season.

You know things were moving smoothly when the final stat sheet showed five Lakers in double-digit scoring, and five Lakers with three assists or more.

And you knew it was breezy when the fans started chanting rookie Tyronn Lue’s name early in the fourth quarter, and when he blasted around the court for a couple of dizzy minutes.

Now they have one more step to take to assure themselves home-court advantage in their upcoming first-round playoff series against Houston, if the Rockets don’t lose to Minnesota tonight: Beat Portland in the season finale Wednesday.

“I believe in those guys in that locker room,” Coach Kurt Rambis said. “I believe they can get the job done. And they’re starting to believe they can. . . .

“I keep telling you guys that this is a team with a huge upside potential, and now we’re just starting to see it. But we’re still a long way from where they could be.”

The Lakers (30-19) seized control early in the second half, removed their opponent’s will and won going away, helped along by Shaquille O’Neal’s 26 points in 31 minutes, Glen Rice’s 22 points and Bryant and Derek Fisher’s all-around effort.

“We moved the basketball, just kept moving it, and attacking it, and we were able to get a lot of opportunities for guys to get wide-open shots,” Rambis said.

“We’re a team that has the capability of a lot of people who can hurt you from a lot of different spots. We just have to understand if we can move the basketball and share it around, we’ll find the hot hand, and get the ball in the right person’s hand, he’ll deliver for us.”

After two high-energy but slightly unsettled quarters, the Lakers trailed the Mavericks, 57-55, after allowing Dallas to make 57.9% of its field-goal tries (22 for 38).

But the Lakers zipped off an 11-1 run to open the third quarter against the tiring Mavericks, taking a 66-58 lead, and kept moving the ball around adroitly enough to keep Dallas at bay.

The Lakers had 31 assists, with Fisher’s season-high eight adding to Bryant’s total.

A little extra Laker defense, combined with Dallas’ fatigue, led to the Mavericks making only three of 11 shots in the third quarter, when the Lakers outscored them, 30-15.

Dallas tried one last push in the fourth, closing to 10 at one point, but four consecutive long jumpers--two three-pointers and a two-pointer by Rick Fox and a three-pointer by Derek Harper--squashed the rally.

“I think the guys are doing it among themselves,” Rambis said, referring to the Lakers’ second-half push. “We shouldn’t have to prod these guys all the time. They should do it as a team.”

PLAYOFF-BOUND: The Sacramento Kings clinched their second playoff spot in 13 years with a victory over the Denver Nuggets. Page 4