DRIVING ON RESERVE LAKERS ROLE PLAYERS TAKE CHARGE IN WIN LAKERS 108, DALLAS 99.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

The Lakers don't deal in wins and losses anymore so much as in messages and warnings, and the one they delivered Tuesday night at Staples Center was not subtle, nor delicate, and it might have reduced a half-dozen rivals to tears.

That supporting cast? The guys who dance around Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant and happily thank them for their rings every November? The ones sometimes accused of being asleep, disinterested, just too old or just too young?

They are awake, interested and scoring at will. Don't ask for explanations, because none will suffice after the Lakers' role players combined to thump the mighty Dallas Mavericks 108-99.

Rick Fox dropped in a bunch of early baskets and finished with 16 points. Robert Horry celebrated his return to the starting lineup with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Derek Fisher pitched in 16. And when the Mavericks tried to mount a late rally, Devean George kept them at bay, scoring 11 of his team-high 21 points in the fourth quarter.

O'Neal and Bryant cruised for most of the night and finished with 14 points each, good enough for fifth highest on the team.

Meanwhile, the low-budget supporting cast - the one Dallas owner Mark Cuban once derided as ``the merry minimums,'' the one O'Neal trashed in December as the ``guys who ain't doing (bleep)'' - played its best collective game this season. Maybe ever.

It had been 15 months since a Laker not named Shaq or Kobe had led the Lakers in scoring (Fisher, Jan. 12, 2002, at Chicago). It could be awhile before the folks at the Elias Sports Bureau compute when Bryant and O'Neal were outscored by four of their teammates in a game.

The Lakers won their fifth in a row, extended their home winning streak to 13 games and closed within one game of fifth-seeded Minnesota (48-30). They remain 1 1/2 games behind Portland, which routed Houston earlier Tuesday.

The postseason omens truly are frightening for the Mavericks, who lost to the Lakers in L.A. for the 25th consecutive time, a streak dating back to December 1990. The loss dropped Dallas into a first-place tie with the San Antonio Spurs, and the Mavericks are on the verge of falling to No. 3, lined up for a first-round series against the Lakers.

Dirk Nowitzki and Raef LaFrentz scored 26 points each for Dallas, which got little out of Steve Nash and was without the injured Michael Finley.

The Lakers played much of the game as if on a dare - trying to beat the Mavericks with Shaq and Kobe tied behind their backs. Foul trouble took O'Neal out of the game in the first half. A refusal to shoot took Bryant out of the offense.

By halftime, Fox had outscored The Combo 11-9.

Bryant played the entire first quarter without attempting a shot, going so far as to force an inside pass to Mark Madsen in the closing seconds, causing a turnover.

Bryant didn't score until the 3:49 mark in the second quarter, on a pair of free throws. His sank his first field goal of the game with 58.6 seconds left in the half.

It all looked very strange, but the Lakers somehow made it all work.

By the start of the fourth quarter, the Lakers' top four scorers were, in order, Fox, Horry, Fisher and George. O'Neal and Bryant remained in single digits.

``We shouldn't be scared of anyone,'' Nowitzki had told Dallas reporters, but he hadn't ever seen the Lakers' role players do this.

The Mavericks had not played the Lakers here since early December, when they blew a 30-point lead - 27 of it in the fourth quarter - while the Lakers claimed the second-greatest comeback in NBA history.

The psychological scars obviously run deep, although the Mavericks tried their best to convince themselves otherwise. Nash bravely declared the Lakers' 13-year home dominance over the Mavericks ``is going to get broken sometime.''

``It might as well be Tuesday night,'' Nash told Dallas reporters before the game. ``If we can just avoid falling off the planet for 12 minutes, we'll be fine.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki gets the best of Samaki Walker here, but it was the Lakers' night Tuesday.

(2) Shaquille O'Neal leaves no doubt about who the ball belongs to, but it was the Lakers' reserves who took control of the game.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) STORY LINES

(2) WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS

(3) GAME RECAP