LAKERS SURVIVE NEAR-COLLAPSE NEED BRYANT'S 40 AND OT LAKERS 104, TORONTO 101.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

TORONTO - In its grandest terms, this was a day for Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter, for a budding East-West rivalry and the further evolution of a marquee matchup to last the NBA another generation.

OK, so maybe it was just a day for hyperbole, overeager young stars and a near Lakers' meltdown. It didn't lack for intrigue in either case.

At least one national magazine has tagged Bryant-Carter as a potential successor to Magic-Bird, with the league riding the coattails. As if to justify the concept, the pair went shot for shot, basket for basket and even block for block Sunday afternoon.

But somewhere in the midst of this Michael Jordan clone war, an easy Lakers victory turned into a regrettable overtime grind, where Bryant bested Carter and the Lakers at last put down the Toronto Raptors 104-101 at Air Canada Centre.

Bryant also won the personal battle - 40 points to Carter's 31.

For the Lakers, though, it was just another squandered lead (15 points in the fourth) and, they hope, another lesson learned.

``We should have won that game by double digits,'' said Shaquille O'Neal, ``but we messed around in the fourth quarter like we always do. We got kind of cute, just resorted to shooting jumpers. And all the shots we took, we didn't hit that many of them, and they came back.''

If there was a hole in Bryant's 40-point, seven-rebound game, it was in the fourth, when he took 10 shots and made only three. But it was hard to fault his overall performance: 14 for 29 from the field, 11 for 11 from the foul line.

``He played a good game, he played a fine game,'' coach Phil Jackson said. ``(He) moved the ball (in overtime), that was good.''

Carter fared much worse, going 10 for 32 from the field. But he also made the two biggest plays of regulation.

It was Carter's two free throws - after he beat Bryant off the dribble and got fouled by O'Neal - that tied the score at 91 with 4.6 seconds left. That capped a 17-2 Raptors run over the last 4:53.

And then it was Carter who leaped to block Bryant's 26-footer at the buzzer, forcing the game into overtime.

``They made quite a run at us at the end of the game,'' Jackson said. ``It looked like we had tired legs or else we couldn't make free throws, so it got tough for us down the stretch. We got the momentum back in the overtime.''

Bryant got in the last word. He scored four points in overtime (Carter went 0 for 4) and blocked Carter's jumper with the Lakers holding a 103-99 lead.

``I was going to go for the block,'' Bryant said. ``Yeah, I owed him one.''

The participants in this duel are aware of the hype but tried to put it in perspective. Bryant noted the real final tally is measured in championships. Carter, who has never won a playoff game, said, ``He can look back on championships, I can't.''

``But he's a great player and I like to play against great players,'' Carter said. ``It makes the game better. We both have the sense that people want to see us play to make it a better game to watch.''

Bryant, assigned to point guard Mark Jackson, admitted he wanted to guard Carter more often.

``Absolutely, that's just your natural competitive instinct,'' he said. ``But first and foremost, I want to win the game.''

Outside of Bryant and O'Neal, the Lakers had difficulty scoring. But Robert Horry came through in overtime, where he scored all six of his points to help the Lakers open this four-game trip with a win.

They treated it, however, like the flawed performance that it was.

``In the fourth quarter, we started taking a lot of outside shots, we didn't go inside like we're supposed to,'' Horry said, ``and that's the thing that kind of screwed us up.''

The Lakers outshot the Raptors 45.8 percent to 35 percent in the game, yet lost the hustle plays and were outrebounded 61-45. O'Neal, aka The Graduate, scored 28 points but came up with only eight rebounds in his first game since Friday's commencement ceremony at LSU. O'Neal also missed his last seven free throws, all in the fourth quarter and overtime.

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Photo: Shaquille O'Neal jams home a field goal between Raptors Antonio Davis, left, and Kevin Willis during the Lakers' OT win at Toronto.

Aaron Harris/Associated Press

Box: GAME RECAP