Home Streak Home for Lakers

By HELENE ELLIOTT

Feb. 26, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

There was no room service and they didn’t get frequent-flyer miles, but home looked good to the Lakers on Friday. They looked good too.

In their first game at Staples Center after sweeping a six-game trip, the Lakers held off a third-quarter push by the Boston Celtics to record a 109-96 victory over their onetime bitter rivals before a sellout crowd of 18,997.

The victory was the Lakers’ 10th in a row and gave them their second double-digit winning streak, following the 16-game streak they assembled in December and January. They’ve had two winning streaks of 10 or more games in a season several times: they had streaks of 10 and 11 games in the 1986-87 season and of 15 and 10 in 1987-88. In both seasons, they won the NBA championship.

Shaquille O’Neal lead all scorers with 28 points as the Lakers tied the Portland Trail Blazers for the NBA’s best record (44-11). The Lakers also maintained a perfect (8-0) record against Atlantic Division opponents and improved to 20-2 against Eastern Conference foes.

Asked how the Lakers are playing compared to their 16-game streak, O’Neal said: “It doesn’t really matter as long as we’re winning games.”

Glen Rice, perhaps happiest of all Lakers to still call Los Angeles home after the trading deadline--at least for the moment--scored 20 points in 26 minutes. Antoine Walker led the Celtics with 25.

The Celtics are the only NBA franchise that has a winning record against the Lakers (90-71), but the Celtics’ glory days are long past and they’re merely another struggling team. They tried a comeback in the third quarter and pulled within 10 points with 10:40 left on a short hook shot by Vitaly Potapenko, but the Lakers held them off thanks to O’Neal and to Kobe Bryant, who scored eight points in the third quarter after scoring three in the first half. Bryant finished with 17. Travis Knight added a season-high nine points.

“They were kind to us,” Celtic Coach Rick Pitino said. “It could have been a lot worse”

The Lakers took advantage of the Celtics’ poor shooting to build an early lead, padding it securely on the strength of their own strong shooting. Rice was four for five from the floor and made all four of his free throws for 12 first-quarter points, only five fewer than the entire Celtic team.

By the end of the first quarter, the Lakers were on the verge of pulling beyond the Celtics’ limited reach; by the time they pulled out to a 46-24 lead with 5:49 left in the half, they were toying with their opponent.

But if this matchup lacked the tradition and glamour of Laker-Celtic games of decades past, the Celtics did have enough pride to fight back and cause the Lakers some concern. They whittled the Lakers’ lead to 53-41 at the half and sparked enough concern for Coach Phil Jackson to send Bryant and Rice into the game again late in the second quarter.

O’Neal overpowered Potapenko from the outset, becoming a force offensively and defensively. O’Neal had 17 points in the first half and made 13 of 20 shots overall, to go with 15 rebounds and six assists.

Rice, perhaps feeling more comfortable with the trading deadline behind him--played as if a burden had been lifted off his shoulders. The crowd responded warmly to his first-quarter scoring spree and gave him a loud ovation when he left the game with 43.9 seconds left in the first quarter.

The 30-17 lead the Lakers had built in the first quarter quickly grew to 38-19 in the opening minutes of the second quarter. O’Neal scored virtually at will from underneath and scored six of the Lakers’ first eight points and went on to collect 12 in the quarter.

An O’Neal jam increased the Lakers’ lead to 44-24 with 6:08 left, and that lead peaked at 22 on a pair of free throws by Robert Horry. However, the Celtics clawed back, with Walker and Kenny Anderson doing most of the damage. Anderson had six points in the second quarter and contributed two assists; Tony Battie also scored six to help the Celtics outscore the Lakers in the quarter, 24-23.

O’Neal had four rebounds, part of the Lakers’ 24-17 lead in that department. The Lakers shot 50% from the floor (19 for 38) in the first half.

The Celtics, playing their first game at Staples Center, fought back, moving within 10 points in the opening minutes of the third quarter, only to be repelled each time they inched too close. A jam by Rice off a fastbreak and a reverse jam by Bryant helped reestablish a 14-point Laker lead, which they extended to 19 with 6:56 left in the third quarter on a twisting layup and pair of free throws by Bryant.

“The defense was OK for us until the second quarter,” Jackson said. “Then it kind of flattened out.

“It’s always tough to come back and play the first game after a trip, especially to the East Coast.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

1999-2000 STREAKS

Longest Laker win streaks this season:

* 16--Dec. 11-Jan. 12

* 10--Feb. 4-25

* 7--Nov. 24-Dec. 7

CURRENT STREAK

Just off an undefeated six-game trip, the Lakers’ now have won 10 in a row:

Opponent Score

Utah 113-67