Lakers Make Win a Proving Ground

For six, going on seven, months they’d talked about what they could do, if they wanted, when they got Shaquille O’Neal back, in the playoffs, when the mood struck them.

The Lakers are still seventh in the Western Conference, Nick Van Exel swearing no one’s “scared” of the Lakers anymore, particularly not the better teams, particularly not the Dallas Mavericks.

Then the Lakers showed up here, beat the Mavericks, 100-89, before the largest crowd of the season Thursday night at American Airlines Center, a game only the winner would call important, and the Lakers did. O’Neal had 31 points and 17 rebounds and Derek Fisher scored 18 points, which included four makes in four attempts from the three-point arc.

With less than two weeks before the regular season was done, the Lakers straining to move up in the conference, the Mavericks suddenly driving just as hard to maintain a lead in a Midwest Division they’d led all season, the Lakers were end-to-end better in an engaging, if uneven effort.

Kobe Bryant had another oddly unbecoming game, due in part to his usual confusion with a zone defense. But, after missing 11 of his first 14 shots, he made four of five to start the fourth quarter with O’Neal on the bench, holding off the Mavericks until O’Neal returned. Bryant finished with 19 points, 10 in the fourth quarter.

“Nothing more, nothing less,” he said later. “We wanted to come in here and win this game.”

Given the time of the year and the potential for a first-round matchup against the Mavericks, it was perhaps their best road win in a season where there isn’t more than a handful to choose from. Robert Horry had 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench, the Lakers had 55 rebounds to the Mavericks’ 44, and the Lakers held the Mavericks, the NBA’s top-scoring team, to 40 points in the second half.

“We needed to show ourselves, I mean, we knew we could do it,” Fisher said. “But we had to go out and do it.”

The Mavericks, who lead the San Antonio Spurs by a game for both the division and conference lead, played without forward Michael Finley, a borderline All-Star who went to the injured list Thursday because of a hamstring injury. It might have explained why the Mavericks could not stay with the Lakers offensively, if not why the Mavericks went to pieces emotionally through the game. Maverick Coach Don Nelson was ejected after taking two technical fouls arguing a call in the fourth quarter and Van Exel and Steve Nash both drew technicals.

“The Lakers came to play and they took no prisoners,” Nelson said. “I think they have their playoff posture in mind now.... They are gearing up for the playoffs and once again will be dominant.”

The Mavericks, who shot 37.1% and were convinced they were undone by the officials, lost for the 41st time in 46 games against the Lakers over the last 12 seasons.

“Similar to the [Sacramento] Kings in a lot of ways,” Rick Fox said of the Mavericks’ meltdown. “You can’t win championships getting caught up in the way things are going, officiating-wise.

“Championship players or championship teams put that aside and play the team in front of them.”

As for Van Exel’s assessment of the Lakers’ vulnerability, Fox grinned and said, “That’s a sure sign they’re afraid, the fact they’re trying to convince themselves they’re not.”

Dallas owner Mark Cuban, seated near the Mavericks’ bench, put on his usual show, screaming obscenities at referees and ordering scoreboard operators to replay calls he believed particularly poor. He sparred playfully with O’Neal, and O’Neal shouted back.

Cuban was happiest when O’Neal was at the free-throw line, where he could ride him about his stroke or the way he teetered over the line or the misses.

When the free throws fell -- and he made nine of 12 -- O’Neal would stare at Cuban on his way back down the floor, his eyebrows playfully raised.

By the end, the floppy-banged billionaire stood forlornly at the rear of the Mavericks’ huddles as one Nelson or another banged at a clipboard.

Later, O’Neal smiled and said, “I don’t listen to fans.”