LAKERS ARE PIECING IT TOGETHER SHAQ'S ON TRACK WITH KOBE ON WAY BACK AT PERFECT TIME LAKERS 104, MINNESOTA 99.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

MINNEAPOLIS - Scrape away the early disappointments and the self-made controversies, the off-the-wall, off-hand comments and the litany of sore knees, ankles and egos, and what's left of the Lakers looks suspiciously like a team capable of great things.

That might not have been the assessment a week ago, when the Lakers set off on their final road trip of the season. But they returned home late Sunday with a renewed aggression on defense and a methodical efficiency on offense, with one star dominating and one star on the verge of returning.

And they returned with the momentum of a 4-0 road sweep, clinched Sunday afternoon with a 104-99 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.

Shaquille O'Neal, who has settled into a scoring rhythm reminiscent of the one from last year's championship run, carried the day with 34 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots.

But it was the key defensive stops in the fourth quarter, when the Lakers overcame an eight-point deficit, the key contributions from the bench and the clutch production of the patchwork starting backcourt that gave coach Phil Jackson reason to smile, and the Lakers a reason to believe they are nearly playoff-ready.

Kobe Bryant, out nine of the past 10 games, will return Tuesday night with four games left to play. Everything, it seems, is falling into place at the right time.

``You definitely get that feeling,'' Derek Fisher said, ``and winning does a lot to help, just in terms of your mindset and confidence and where you feel like you are as a team. ...

``I think this basketball team is coming together and it's taken us all season long. We've dealt with a lot of things on and off the court. And it's amazing what winning basketball games really does. One day you win and we're talking the way we're talking now, and we lose a game or two and it's the complete opposite.''

The four-game winning streak follows a slump in which they lost five of eight. But with Sunday's win, the Lakers (52-26) stayed within a game of Sacramento for the No. 2 seed in the West, a game up on No. 4 Utah.

They finished with a respectable 25-16 road record.

In beating the Timberwolves (45-31), the Lakers displayed all their best qualities of late.

Four starters scored in double figures, including Fisher (19 points) and Brian Shaw (17), neither of whom was in the lineup a month ago. Devean George provided an unexpected 10 points and five rebounds off the bench. And the defense contained the Wolves down the stretch and held All-Star Kevin Garnett to a harmless 11 points on 4-for-14 shooting.

But the key to the Lakers' revival, Jackson said, has been the steady play of Fisher and Shaw, who have settled down the offense and provided the framework for O'Neal to do his thing. O'Neal averaged 35.8 points on this road trip, bolstered by his consistent foul shooting.

``Guys are getting me the ball in comfortable position. I'm doing what I'm doing, doing pretty good from the free-throw line and we're playing pretty good defense,'' O'Neal said. ``If we can get back to that during the playoffs, then I don't see us having any problems. The only problems we should have in the playoffs will be us.''

So carefree are the Lakers now, they had the locker-room TV tuned to the Masters - not the Sacramento-Portland game - during pregame. Then Jackson came in, barked at everyone to ``focus on business'' and changed the channel. There was little else for him to frown about.

``We'd like to have been playing like this in January and February, the two months we thought we could really play and jump out a little bit, but we didn't,'' Jackson said. ``And so we have to put it together sometime, and it's nice to do it now. Now we have to sustain it.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Lakers guard Derek Fisher swoops through the lane Sunday in Minneapolis during L.A.'s victory.

Andy King/Associated Press

Box: LAKERS 104, TIMBERWOLVES 99