BIG CROWD'S CHEERS WEREN'T FOR DODGERS ARIZONA 6, DODGERS 3.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

The Lakers forced a Game 7 in the NBA Western Conference finals, holding on in the final minute to defeat Sacramento. That was what a season-high crowd of 54,252 cared about at Dodger Stadium.

When Shaquille O'Neal hit a reverse layup, the crowd erupted. With a big defensive stand, they cheered. With Kobe Bryant on the foul line with 19.8 seconds left, the crowd chanted ``Kobe, Kobe, Kobe'' as they were watching portable televisions or listening on radio.

By the way, left-handed pitcher Omar Daal, who desperately wants into someone's starting rotation, has that chance with the Dodgers but had his worst outing of the season.

Shoved back into the rotation because of another injury to Kevin Brown, Daal allowed more earned runs in one inning than he yielded all season, and Randy Johnson and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers 6-3 in Friday's opener of a three-game series.

Daal, who has been masterful in short relief, long relief, starting and everything else asked of him, was victimized by a few soft singles and a bases-loaded double as first-place Arizona scored five times in the fourth inning. In all, Daal allowed six runs on 10 hits in six innings in falling to 4-1.

In his first 17 games, including two starts, Daal allowed six earned runs on 10 hits. He threw 104 pitches and saw his ERA more than double from 0.88 to 1.91.

It was plenty of support for Johnson, who rebounded from a dismal start Sunday against the Dodgers - he allowed seven runs on eight hits in five innings but wasn't involved in the decision - to improve to 5-0 at Dodger Stadium.

``(Johnson) has got a very good memory, I'm sure,'' Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. ``He's one of the premier guys in the business, and guys like that, after the outing he had last Sunday, normally like to rebound as best as possible.''

While Johnson (9-1) was again dominating, he wasn't his overpowering self. Far from it, in fact, as he allowed six hits, walked one and was helped by three double plays.

A strikeout machine who is eighth on the all-time strikeout list, Johnson struck out a season-low four in eight innings. The last time he struck out that few was May 23, 2001, when he struck out four against San Francisco.

Arizona reliever Byung-Hyun Kim pitched a perfect ninth for his 14th save, periodically interrupted by cheers for another pair of Bryant free throws with 11.8 seconds left and then a clinching rebound by Robert Horry that sent the series back to Sacramento for Sunday's Game 7.

Dodgers outfielder Marquis Grissom, who was 1 for 25 with 15 strikeouts against Johnson before homering in his two at-bats Sunday against Johnson, was at it again. After Brian Jordan's two-out double put runners on second and third in the bottom of the seventh, Grissom hit an opposite-field, three-run homer inside the right-field foul pole to pull the Dodgers within 6-3.

Arizona wasted no time in providing Johnson with a lead. Junior Spivey singled with one out in the first and scored on Jose Guillen's two-out single to center field.

Daal, whose approach is the opposite of Johnson's 98-mph fastball and biting slider, then got peppered around in the fourth as Arizona scored five times, all with two outs, on six hits.

Craig Counsell began the rally without a two-run single to center to make it 3-0. Spivey singled to right and Luis Gonzalez had an infield single to third to load the bases.