LAKERS, COACH IN ELITE COMPANY IT'S 900TH CAREER WIN FOR JACKSON LAKERS 101, DALLAS 98.

Byline: ROSS SILER Staff Writer

Long after the game ball from Sunday night's 101-98 triumph over the Dallas Mavericks has gone into storage, Lakers coach Phil Jackson will be left with the memories from the 900th victory of his career.

They will be stirring to say the least, with the Lakers ending the Mavericks' 13-game winning streak, Sasha Vujacic making the biggest 3-pointer of his career and Jackson's team taking its place among the NBA's elite.

When he walked into the locker room afterward, Jackson was greeted by a standing ovation from his players.

``It was awesome,'' Kobe Bryant said. ``I know Phil's not going to beat his chest about it or anything like it. But it was important for everybody here to take notice of what we just saw tonight. It's special, man.''

The Mavericks' streak started with a 110-101 victory over the Lakers on Dec. 13 in Dallas and ended 25 days later at Staples Center. That the Lakers won the game without injured starters Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown made it all the more remarkable.

``I think right now we're one of those teams that we're good enough to beat anyone in the NBA,'' Luke Walton said. ``When we play the teams like the Mavericks or the Spurs, we really get up and step our games up.

``We've got to learn how to play like that all the time, though. That's how you get one of the high seeds in the playoffs and get the home-court advantage.''

The Lakers trailed by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter and 96-92 with 1:29 remaining. Bryant scored 14 points in the quarter and started the final push by driving the lane and scoring while being fouled by Dirk Nowitzki.

They trailed 98-97 after a layup by Nowitzki with 41.9 seconds left. With Dallas committed to stopping Bryant, Walton drove the lane and fired a pass outside to Vujacic for an open 3-pointer with 28.5 seconds remaining.

``What we had to do,'' Vujacic said, ``and what I could see at that time was just be open on the side and they will find me.''

After making just 1 of 7 shots and missing all five 3-pointers Friday against Denver, Vujacic bounced back to connect on 6 of 7shots and finish with a career-high 16 points.

It was the highlight of Vujacic's young career, and he stayed in the locker room long after the game to enjoy it. Vujacic made three 3-pointers in the fourth and helped force a key turnover by Jason Terry in the backcourt.

``I'm proud of him because he's taken his lumps here,'' Bryant said. ``The fans have been pretty hard on him. But what people don't understand about him, he's a tough kid.

``He's not going to back down. He's not going to stop being aggressive. He's not going to stop working hard. When you have that combination of things, then fans will turn around because they'll see it.''

The Lakers shot 54.9 percent, totaled 26 assists and won the fourth quarter 33-21.

Smush Parker came up with a spectacular block of a dunk by Terry with 16.9 seconds left to preserve the win. Former Lakers forward Devean George missed a tying 3-pointer for Dallas with three seconds to play.

Bryant finished with 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

He played all but 1:07 in the second half and asked to guard Nowitzki in the fourth quarter after the Lakers' previous options of Brian Cook and Vladimir Radmanovic had failed.

``Just looking at the matchups out there, I felt like I wanted to take my crack at guarding him,'' Bryant said. ``I've never guarded him before. Never. I was a little bit curious to see about his offensive game, what makes him special.''

Nowitzki scored eight points in the fourth and 29 for the game.

Bryant was giving up at least six inches to the Mavericks' All-Star forward. Jackson eventually moved Bryant off Nowitzki in favor of Ronny Turiaf for the final 2:51.

Walton totaled 21 points, sixassists and three rebounds, with eight of his points coming in the fourth quarter. Bryant drilled three jumpers to open the fourth but had to give up the ball as the Mavericks sent two and threedefenders in his direction.

``When we didn't trap him, he scored,'' Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. ``When we trapped him, it seemed like Walton and Vujacic made a lot of big shots on us. So everything that we tried on them in the fourth quarter didn't work.''

The Lakers (23-11) are only a half-game out of the top four in the Western Conference and have beaten San Antonio, Phoenix, Utah and Dallas -- all at Staples Center -- this season.

They have won four consecutive games and are 3-0 without Odom and Brown, both of whom will likely be sidelined most of January.

``We can certainly play up to certain teams in games,'' said Jackson, fastest ever to 900 victories. ``There's no doubt about it. But we had to emotionally come out of our skin a little bit tonight and work really hard at doing it.''

Walton summed things up simply, saying, ``They've done a great job of putting a bunch of team players together.''

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Photo: (1 -- color) THE LUCKY ONES (2) Dallas' Erick Dampier, right, tries to keep the Lakers' Smush Parker from driving to the basket. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer