Lakers Are at 11 and Counting

First place alone in the Western Conference arrived on Friday night, across the shoulders of Shaquille O’Neal, after 11 consecutive victories, the latest after a fourth-quarter push that put away the Seattle SuperSonics.

It’s not a daunting game in Seattle unless you’re standing here, leg weary, Ray Allen floating, the local five finding courage in the familiarity of it.

But the Lakers have found something in themselves in the final days of the regular season, and at KeyArena defeated the SuperSonics, 97-86.

From the heart of a season fractured by injury and Kobe Bryant’s legal entanglements, near the end of a learning curve that frustrated and angered them, almost one by one, they are 53-23, a half-game ahead of the idle Sacramento Kings.

They have six games left, and Phil Jackson was asked if he believed the Lakers could run them all.

“We’ve just been saying, ‘Refuse to lose,’ ” Jackson said. “Just, ‘Don’t lose.’ ”

He might have thought about that in December.

“We said we’d have to play terrific basketball to get to this point,” he said. “Now we can’t let up or get overconfident.”

The Lakers played just ahead of the SuperSonics for most of four quarters, riding O’Neal’s 23 points and 14 rebounds to do it, then left them behind on a few late jumpers by Bryant and Gary Payton.

O’Neal’s points carried him to 21,814 for his career, surpassing Larry Bird for 20th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

This season, one he’ll almost certainly conclude with the lowest scoring average of his career, O’Neal has passed Mitch Richmond, George Gervin, David Robinson, Bob Pettit, Walt Bellamy, Hal Greer and Bird.

“To pass up a legend like Larry Bird,” O’Neal said, “either makes me a legend or makes me lucky.”

One guess which he’d choose. Bryant scored 25 points. Payton had 17. Karl Malone had 14. Rick Fox scored 10.

Afterward, SuperSonic forward Reggie Evans sighed and said, “They got everybody back. Yep, they are going to win [the championship]. Hands down. I feel sorry for Sacramento, because they had a good year. I feel sorry for San Antonio. I feel sorry for Detroit, Indiana and everybody who had a good season, because L.A. is going to put those rings on.”

The Lakers continued a winning streak begun three weeks before, sustained by nine games in Los Angeles and one in Chicago, a late-season gift of scheduling from the NBA that couldn’t go on forever.

Payton returned to the city of his prime. While not absolutely enthralled by the organization of his post-prime, Payton probably wouldn’t love it here anymore, either.

But it had been more than two years since the Lakers won in Seattle, a three-game streak actually begun by Payton, and then sustained by Allen, the man Payton was traded for more than a year ago.

The SuperSonics have drawn life from the Lakers, particularly in the shadow of the Space Needle, in recent seasons. They run more in Seattle, and the Lakers seem to play tired, and then there are all of the high pick-and-rolls.

They’ve worn out O’Neal and Bryant both, O’Neal too far from the basket, Bryant chasing Allen through picks.

And so on the night after the Lakers played to the final minute against the Houston Rockets for their 10th straight victory, when Bryant played 45 minutes and O’Neal played 43, they pried themselves off their locker-room chairs for their first back-to-back games since March 7 and 8.

If that wasn’t enough, the referees gave the SuperSonics possession of the ball to start the second half, even though the SuperSonics had won the opening tap. Referee Derek Richardson and Jackson realized the error as the SuperSonics brought the ball to half court.

Of course, Payton couldn’t resist the moment, and he screamed at Richardson, “That’s our ball. Oh, that’s a fine! That’s a fine!”

It was one of the rare SuperSonic possessions that did not end with an Allen shot attempt, made or missed. Allen stood Friday night about where Cuttino Mobley did Thursday night, at the heart of the Laker defense, making shots.

Mobley, the Rockets’ shooting guard, scored 26 points, those tempered by the fact Mobley needed 23 shots to get them, and that Bryant eventually matched him at 26.

Allen had 30 on Friday, and Bryant did not get to the free-throw line as often in the road game, so the scoring load required more balance, this time meaning O’Neal against a handful of overmatched centers.