[0] ANOTHER GOAL IS REALIZED IT'S HOMECOURT ADVANTAGE FOR L.A. LAKERS 111, GOLDEN STATE 104.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

OAKLAND - Another season-defining moment was on the agenda Wednesday night, but as usual, the Lakers were in no rush to embrace it. Heck, they weren't even in a rush to win the game.

While the Lakers took their time putting away the Golden State Warriors at the Arena in Oakland, their closest rivals, the Portland Trail Blazers, were losing to the Houston Rockets.

When the Blazers fell, the Lakers automatically clinched the NBA's best record and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs.

But the Lakers, entirely unaware of what had happened in the Pacific Northwest, were not celebrating the occasion, and the only things chilling on ice in the fourth quarter were Robert Horry's gimpy knees.

When the fourth arrived, the dawdling Lakers did, too, and, with a strong finish, defeated the Warriors 111-104 to make it all official. At 64-12, with six games to play, no one can catch them.

But that's been the case all season for the Lakers, who have won 11 straight and 30 of their last 31 games.

It took a monstrous night from Shaquille O'Neal (49 points, 19-of-27 shooting) and an eye-opening performance from rookie Devean George (14 points) to realize the goal.

Kobe Bryant was shaky in his first night back from a one-game suspension and finished with 16 points (on 5-of-14 shooting) and 11 assists in 41 minutes.

Donyell Marshall led a spirited Warriors attack with 32 points.

Although the game was in doubt throughout a sloppy first half, the outcome was fairly predictable. Whereas the Lakers now have three double-digit winning streaks this season, the Warriors lost their 10th in a row for their third double-digit losing streak.

Of course, the homecourt advantage guarantees nothing, as the eighth- seeded New York Knicks proved last season by going to the Finals without it.

``You can win without it. A lot of teams have,'' Jackson said. ``But it's usually the first or second teams in the league in records that come up with the wins at the end. What it does is it gives you that confidence - you spend more time on your homecourt, in you're home bed and in front of your home crowd. Sometimes that can work against you in the playoffs, especially if you have 50 relatives coming in for a playoff game.

``So it's a cautionary thing, and sometimes the good teams end up winning on the road, like the Chicago Bulls did during the '90s,'' said Jackson. ``They won a lot of games on the road in the playoffs, and that's important, too. You have to learn how to win both places. But ultimately, when push comes to shove, you want that homecourt.''

Typically, the Lakers dawdled for a while before deciding to exert themselves. After briefly leading in the first quarter, they trailed throughout the second and third quarters by as many as 10 points.

They didn't take the lead again until Bryant hit a 3-pointer with one-tenth of a second left in the third quarter, for a 77-75 lead to head into the fourth.

Brian Shaw and George opened the final period with back-to-back 3- pointers, and after an O'Neal fast-break slam dunk, the Lakers had opened a 10-point lead, 87-77. The Warriors mounted a late charge that cut the deficit to 102-98 with less than three minutes to play, but the Lakers held off the charge, with nine points from Bryant and O'Neal down the stretch.

Just as the Lakers have matter-of-factly rolled through the season, they greeted their clinching moment with little fanfare.

``I think they're conscious of it,'' Jackson said before tipoff. ``I wasn't, until this morning when a journalist asked about it. I wasn't conscious it was the game. In fact, last night we were debating upon whether it was tonight or Saturday, as to the final game. But here it is.''

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