[0] SUPER SHOWDOWN LAKERS EXTEND WIN STREAK TO 12 GAMES LAKERS 90, PORTLAND 87.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

PORTLAND, Ore. - Somewhere, it seemed, the James Naismith trophy must have been jiggling in its case.

Sometime, down the road a bit, there will be playoff games with less electricity than the one played here Tuesday.

Somehow, a game with no long-lasting stakes to speak of took on the dramatic proportions of an NBA championship series.

And maybe it was only appropriate, considering the league's two best teams were going head-to-head for the final time this season, battling for control of their division, their conference and the rights to the NBA's best record as of March 1.

Appropriately, the Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers played this ultra- hyped event right down to the wire, where the Lakers pulled out a 90-87 victory before a sold out sea of red shirts and red faces at the Rose Garden.

Shaquille O'Neal scored a game-high 23 points and made a key free throw with 24.3 seconds left as the Lakers extended their winning streak to 12, grabbed the NBA's best record at 46-11 and pulled a game ahead of the Blazers in the West. They also evened the season series at 2-2.

Not bad for one night's work.

Kobe Bryant shook off early foul trouble to finish with 22 points and seven rebounds and was the only other Laker to score in double figures.

Portland, the league's best-shooting team, was held to 40.4 percent, while the Lakers hit 44 percent from the field and held up against the Blazers' array of big bodies (minus Brian Grant, out with a foot injury).

As if the game needed extra hype, the NBA put a historical footnote on it: Never before had two teams faced each other with matching 11-game winning streaks on the line. Not to mention that these two also were tied for the best record in the league.

It lent a playoff feel to a time of season that's often considered drudgery.

``I've never seen a bigger game in the NBA, in my history of the game, in 33 years,'' said coach Phil Jackson, ``where two teams, almost 60 games into the season, are tied and they have the best record in the league, and they're still thumping it out in a divisional race. I just haven't seen anything quite this dramatic.

``It's a really neat game, it's great to play and I think it's good for teams to get this because it gives you that playoff intensity in the middle of the season. It gets everybody piqued. And you can judge a little bit of what your opponent is or you are and gives us a level in which we go back at it maybe in another 2 1/2 months.''

No one waited for May to assume playoff intensity, though.

The Blazers struck first, gaining an early six-point lead while taking advantage of Bryant's absence due to early foul trouble (two in the first five minutes). But the Lakers kept their poise and seized control midway through the second quarter with a 16-6 run that gave them a 42-32 lead, the biggest of the game.

They settled for a 44-37 halftime lead, remarkable considering O'Neal was 3 for 10 from the field, Glen Rice had just five points and Bryant played a mere 13 minutes. But Bryant made the most of his time, scoring 10 points, and Brian Shaw pitched in seven points off the bench. Steve Smith led the Blazers with nine points.

Win or lose, Jackson's message to his team was clear: Don't let the emotions of one game - albeit a monstrously huge game - take over.

``I've mentioned it so that there (won't) be a danger in it, that they understand it's a long week and we've got a lot of games ahead of us,'' he said. ``And there's still going to be five or six more losses, at least, for both these teams before the season is over. The advantage is that . . . it seems like a direction surge for the winning team in this game.''

For the Lakers, there will be little time to dwell on one game anyway. They returned home early this morning and immediately go back to work with a home game against the Vancouver Grizzlies tonight.

``I think that's the best thing in the NBA, is that you can play the next night and either prove yourself or else redeem yourself,'' Jackson said. ``That's the attitude I think you've got to take until the playoffs come, and then you can really focus all your energy in one direction.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo: (1 -- color) Shaquille O'Neal tips in an offensive rebound Tuesday over Portland's Arvydas Sabonis for two of his game-high 23 points in the Lakers' big Western Division win over the Trail Blazers.

Associated Press

(2) Kobe Bryant defends Portland's Damon Stoudamire.

Steve Slocum/Associated Press

Box: (1) Head to head

(2) Game recap