In Time of Need, Lakers Find Their Way Out of Danger Zone

Believe it or not, the Lakers were the team that needed this game. Absolutely had to have it.

The Clippers were curious. The Lakers were concerned, which for them in December qualifies as a high state of alert.

The Clippers (now 12-11) found themselves with the rare luxury that they could lose a game and still be over .500.

The Lakers needed a reminder that they’re still the dominant team in the league and the city after a pair of crown-skewing losses. And all of a sudden, they found themselves with some legitimate contenders for the best record in the league, with San Antonio and Minnesota in hot pursuit.

Danger is all a matter of perspective, of course.

“Everybody’s been talking about ‘They’ve been mired in a two-game losing streak,”’ Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry said. “We should all be so lucky to be mired in a two-game ‘losing streak.”’

The real streak after Friday was the Clippers’ winless record on the road (since, technically, this was a Laker home game).

Both teams seemed to revert to old form, and the Lakers came away with a 110-80 victory over the Clippers.

Lately, at the point when the Lakers make their run and opponents are supposed to fall over, the Sacramento Kings and Seattle SuperSonics remained standing, leaving the Lakers with a “You’re still here?” look on their faces.

But the Clippers obliged and went to the canvas. After controlling the first 31 minutes, they couldn’t respond when the Lakers went on a 13-2 run.

It was tied, then it was a double-digit Laker lead, then it was a blowout.

“Teams come with different attitudes,” Rick Fox said. “Some come to defeat an opponent. Some come to dominate an opponent. We need to get to the way we did it in the playoffs, where we try to subjugate them.”

That’s what rulers do.

The Clippers looked like brave rebels, then serfs.

They were winning even on a night when they got a total of 10 points from Elton Brand and Quentin Richardson.

Gentry couldn’t get a lineup combination that worked in the third quarter. He had Brand and Richardson on the floor during the Lakers’ spurt, but on this night the Clippers’ two most dependable players this season couldn’t produce.

Gentry’s job situation might not be as perilous as some reports make it out to be, but there has been some dissatisfaction in the front office with the team’s failure to master some of the basics.

At times the injuries to Keyon Dooling and Eric Piatkowski have made it easier for Gentry to distribute minutes, but Friday night was a case when the Clippers could have used other options to spark their offense in the second half.

After a “mediocre” first half (an overly generous self-assessment), Shaquille O’Neal came through with 12 points and seven rebounds in the third quarter, as the Lakers re-established control.

He finished with 28 points and 15 rebounds.

There’s no huge flaw with the Clippers, nothing that isn’t wrong with everybody in the league besides the Lakers. Their problem is they don’t have an O’Neal.

They don’t figure to get one, either, unless Santa comes through with an exceptionally large present.

The Lakers got the gift Friday, with 18 points from Slava Medvedenko.

If the Laker offense were an economy, it would be in recession right now. The movement has slowed, the quality of shots diminished. Derek Fisher, Fox, Lindsey Hunter, Mitch Richmond and Robert Horry were a combined 21 for 93 (23%) in the previous three games. Horry thought it was because the team hasn’t practiced much lately. Coach Phil Jackson thought they were becoming overly dependent on O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

Meanwhile, the Clippers’ good times resulting in a three-game winning streak had extended even to the realm of jurisprudence.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced it would not pursue felony charges against Michael Olowokandi in connection with an incident involving him and a former girlfriend outside his house in the early-morning hours of Dec. 1.

Olowokandi was beaming and had a bounce in his step when he walked into Staples Center.

Then he went out and had a productive first half, with nine points and six rebounds, to help the Clippers to a 48-44 lead.

This was the closest thing to a fair fight since the Clippers moved to L.A. The Lakers weren’t on top of their game and the Clippers are getting closer to balancing the scale between potential and results.

“If you can’t get excited for a hometown rivalry like the Clippers ... I don’t know what gets you going in the regular season,”Jackson said.

Of course, you never know when Jackson is in tweak mode, just kidding around.

But there was no doubting Lamar Odom’s intent. When asked if this was a big game, he looked at the questioner as if he were crazy.

“Hell yeah,” Odom said. “This is the game for us. It’s the measuring stick for the Clippers.”

Guess you could say they came up 7 feet and 1 inch short.

“They have a lot of great talent over there,” that 7-1 player said. “But we run this city, we run this building.

“And as long as I’m here,” O’Neal added, “that’s how it’s going to be.”

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com