Rider (24) Helps Lakers Surf Nets

The Lakers assume the perfect game is out there for them, the one that will draw them out of whatever it is that has turned them into the Golden State Warriors with a decent arena.

The perfect game, of course, would look a lot like any number of games they played last season, a little like a few games they played this season, and nothing like anything they’ve done lately.

The Lakers did not play their perfect game Friday night, despite so many favorable conditions. But, quite happily for them, there was a perfect opponent, and that would have to do.

They defeated Byron Scott’s New Jersey Nets, 113-101, at Staples Center, playing through the distraction of another troubling accusation aimed at Isaiah Rider. Apparently undaunted, Rider played aggressively again, after a report that he has refused conditions of the league’s drug after-care program.

Rider scored a season-high 24 points, the last two at the free-throw line with the crowd chanting “Ri-der! Ri-der!” Then he pointed to them as he backpedaled down the court.

He said the two--the New York Post report and his play--were unrelated.

“I’m more motivated because I want to play, I want to get on the court and do well,” he said. “My game is definitely still there, like it’s always been. So I just want to assert myself and reassure myself around here and put some points up.”

Rider made three critical shots in the fourth quarter, promising for the Lakers if you can get over the fact that someone had to make critical shots for the Lakers in the fourth quarter of a home game against the Nets.

“We know offensively J.R. can do a lot of things,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “His teammates recognized he had a hot hand and was ready to play.”

Just ahead of the nine-win Washington Wizards in the Atlantic Division, the sad-sack Nets lacked capable size in their front court and anyone who could stay with Kobe Bryant in the backcourt.

So, Shaquille O’Neal scored 26 points, had eight assists and took nine rebounds but injured his right arch. Precautionary X-rays were negative. O’Neal said afterward his foot was “kind of sore.”

Bryant, who has a sore right shoulder, also had 26 points, two on a windmill dunk in the second quarter, and he matched O’Neal’s nine rebounds.

For a change, and at the end of a week when Rider challenged O’Neal and Bryant to share the offensive wealth, there was balance to the Laker scoring.

While the Nets hung solely on the offense of Stephon Marbury (33 points) and Keith Van Horn (25 points), the Lakers invited in Rider, and Rick Fox added 14 points.

“If J.R. can have that kind of performance every night,” O’Neal said, “we’ll be back on track in no time.”

Horace Grant returned to the starting lineup after sitting out two games because of back spasms. He said his back was stiff but well enough to play, and he scored 10 points and took six rebounds.

Grant considered undergoing an MRI and X-rays mid-week, but opted against those.

“If something bad is wrong with it,” he said, smiling, “I don’t want to know.”

That might be the motto of the first half of the Lakers’ season, which concluded Friday night with 27 wins, well below their preseason expectations.

At the same pace in the second half, the Lakers would have home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs and that is all.

“At this time, we have to do it,” Jackson said. “We have to get it done right now. That’s the process. We can’t talk about it. We have to behave in a way that creates that positive thing for us.”

Against the Nets, the defense again was what stood between the Lakers and an angst-free victory. But there were signs of urgency. Lakers dived three times for loose balls, the kind of hellbent-for-hardwood effort they seemed to be saving for April.

O’Neal, too, was lighter on his feet and dutifully looking for teammates. He had seven assists in the first half.

“At this point, physically, we need his energy on the court because he’s the guy who creates the dynamics for us to play with out on the floor,” Jackson said.