DEADLOCK IN THE WEST VICTORY OVER HOUSTON TIES LAKERS WITH SACRAMENTO ATOP CONFERENCE LAKERS 93, HOUSTON 85.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

At the conclusion of three months of MRIs and stitches, drama and doubt, the Lakers walked off their home court Thursday night, patted each others' heads, smacked each others' hands and reintroduced themselves to first place.

They are exactly where they want to be and also nowhere near where they expected to be, their late-season 10-game winning streak coinciding with a late-season tailspin by the Sacramento Kings. Both trends continued Thursday, the Lakers sealing a 93-85 victory over the Houston Rockets just hours after the Kings lost in Dallas, and by 10:30 p.m., there was a tie atop the Western Conference.

Kobe Bryant scored 26 points in an uneven performance that also included seven rebounds, four assists and six turnovers. Shaquille O'Neal finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. Karl Malone had 20 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.

The Lakers held an 11-point lead with about five minutes to play, but the Rockets got 3-pointers from Steve Francis and Jim Jackson to stay within striking distance. Clarence Weatherspoon's layup cut the lead to 85-79.

As the final full timeout was called, with 1:57 to play, Francis chased a loose ball, ended up a couple of rows into the corner media seats, grabbed a phone off the table and began to chat into the receiver. Whether he was speaking with Joe Horn or calling to apologize again to commissioner David Stern wasn't clear.

By the time the Lakers took the court, the Dallas Mavericks had already sent the Sacramento Kings to a 127-117 defeat, and the night's agenda was set.

The Lakers hadn't occupied first place since Jan. 2, when they had a half-game lead over the Kings. As recently as March 15, the Lakers were six games out, and had practically conceded the race.

``To be honest with you, we did,'' Malone said. ``Then, all of a sudden, you get to watching a couple of these (Kings) games. ' They went back and played Washington (and lost). You say, `Dang, we might have a shot at this.' ''

But veterans of past Laker runs and past Sacramento collapses - and there have been many - will tell you they saw this coming. An hour before tipoff, Rick Fox strolled through the locker room, glanced at a TV showing the Kings down 65-50, and smiled wide.

``Y'all are acting surprised,'' Fox said to reporters. ``Why y'all acting surprised? Go back in your notebooks and see what we said four weeks ago.''

Four weeks ago, the Lakers were trying to explain a loss to the Atlanta Hawks. But Fox has never been one to pass up an easy jab at the Kings.

The final seconds of the Kings' defeat were shown during a first-quarter timeout, and the Staples Center crowd cheered gleefully. There are seven games left on the Lakers' schedule, chief among them an April 11 meeting with the Kings at Arco Arena.

Houston is virtually locked into the seventh slot in the West but has played like a title contender in every game against the Lakers this season. Credit Yao, the first center in perhaps 10 years to make O'Neal work at both ends of the court.

``I don't think defensively he's reached a level yet that he can compete with Shaquille,'' Jackson said of Yao. ``But he's the best offensive player that Shaquille's had to play against since (Hakeem) Olajuwon in '94, '95. So that says a lot.''

In their first three meetings, Yao played O'Neal to a virtual draw. He was less of a factor Thursday, going 3 for 10 in the first half.

O'Neal had his own difficulties, coping with a flare-up of tendinitis in his right knee. O'Neal wore a sleeve over the knee and seemed to lose a little of his hop as the night wore on. He went 1 for 6 from the field in the third quarter.

So the game devolved into a battle of considerably shorter men, Mobley scoring in bunches against Bryant early on, and Bryant spending the rest of the night trying to balance the scales.

Mobley scored 15 points in the first quarter as the Rockets took a 23-16 lead, while Bryant missed 3 of 4 shots and committed a pair of turnovers. By halftime, Mobley held a 17-14 edge in scoring. He also gave a hard smack to Bryant's left wrist on a drive to the basket in the first quarter. Bryant held the wrist and winced and had it taped up the rest of the game.

Having absorbed Mobley's outburst, the Lakers went on a 25-11 run to take control of the game and led 47-40 at halftime. Houston opened the second half with a 15-2 run to take the lead again. The Lakers answered with a 15-4 run, led by a point heading into the fourth quarter, then pulled away - with Devean George hitting for 3 and O'Neal dunking on Yao.

Howard Beck, [phone]

howard.beck(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Shaquille O'Neal (34) misses a dunk over Houston's Yao Ming in the third quarter Thursday.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer

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