FROM DISASTER TO MIRACLE L.A. COMES BACK FROM 27 DOWN IN FOURTH TO BEAT DALLAS LAKERS 105, DALLAS 103.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

The obituary was all but written, strung together line by line, game by game, with a morbid glee. A league eager to smack the swagger right out of the three-time defending champions had penned a mighty rough draft, and the Dallas Mavericks arrived in L.A. in time to complete the final paragraph, word by word, minute by minute.

It was nearly complete by early Friday evening, as the Mavericks pounded the Lakers into submission, buried them under 3-pointers and hustle and athleticism until there was hardly a sign the Lakers ever were there.

Down 30 points, and the boos were echoing through Staples Center. The low hum of doubters who were saying the dynasty was done, that the Lakers needed to be scrapped piece by piece, had grown into a roar.

But the Lakers of the last three years never did die this easily, and - wonder of wonders - they still don't.

The Lakers mounted the greatest comeback in recent history, overcoming a 27-point fourth quarter deficit to take a 105-103 victory.

Kobe Bryant, quiet for three quarters, scored the game-winning points on a 14-foot jumper as he spun away from ex-teammate Nick Van Exel with 8.4 seconds left.

Michael Finley misfired on a 3-pointer and Devean George hauled in the rebound as the building rocked. The final buzzer sounded, George flung the ball downcourt with a mighty yell, and the streamers shot into the stratosphere.

It was the Lakers' most memorable comeback since their Game 7 conference finals win here against Portland in 2000. But in that game, they only trailed by 15 in the fourth. This time, they trailed by 23 points with 10:05 to go.

They closed out the game, incredibly, with a 41-13 run.

Bryant finished with 27 points. Shaquille O'Neal scored 26.

The Lakers set a franchise record by overcoming a 28-point halftime deficit.

In doing so, they kept alive a streak that seemed doomed. The Lakers beat the Mavericks for the 24th straight time on the home court. Dallas hasn't won here since Dec. 12, 1990.

The Lakers desperately want to believe there is still time to turn this season around. It took 21 games, until Friday night, before they got their eight best players healthy at the same time, so there is reason for optimism.

``Even though we've struggled, we haven't been resting on the fact that we'll be OK later,'' said Derek Fisher. ``But (the injuries) have definitely made our job tougher. At the beginning of a season, it's already tough to find rhythm and timing and all that stuff anyway.

``Even when we watch film and you look at the different edits, and the type of groups that we have on the floor, those guys haven't played that many games together,'' Fisher said. ``So you've got Kareem (Rush) mixed with Brian (Shaw), mixed with Kobe, mixed with Slava (Medvedenko), mixed with Mark (Madsen). So it's been tough.''

Now, at last, the Lakers have Devean George instead of Rush, Samaki Walker, Robert Horry and O'Neal instead of Medvedenko and Madsen.

``I think we've done an excellent job of not making excuses or not saying that's why we're struggling,'' Fisher said. ``Everybody's been disappointed still in our play, but definitely looking forward to looking out on the floor and always at least seeing three to four guys out there who know what we're trying to do, understand the system, have been to war before, have played against all these Western Conference teams 10-times a year like we have, that counts for something. So hopefully, we can start to build on that, and with all these home games we have in December and January, try to build some momentum.''

The Lakers trailed by an unfathomable 28 points by halftime, having surrendered a season-high 64 points. Considering the Lakers' track record - they were 0-10 in games they trailed at halftime - a comeback seemed a tad unlikely.

Dallas led 31-30 early in the second quarter. Then the Mavericks scored 11 unanswered points, the Lakers lost their heads and Dallas continued to pull away.

The Mavericks whizzed past the Lakers with a flurry of 3-pointers, making 10 of 14 from the arc. Van Exel, the former Laker, scored 15 points off the bench, including a trio of 3-pointers. Dirk Nowitzki also hit a trio of 3-pointers and scored 16 points.

Tracy Murray scored the Lakers' last points of the half, at the two-minute mark, to pull the Lakers within 13 points, and then it got really ugly: Dallas closed out the half with a 15-0 run, on 3-pointers from Van Exel, Steve Nash and Nowitzki, and 3-point plays from Michael Finley and Nash.

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