NEVER A DOUBT IN ROUT KOBE, LAKERS DISMISS ROCKETS IN FIVE GAMES LAKERS 97, HOUSTON 78.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

The third installment of Kobe Bryant's singularly sublime transition game played out for a national television audience Wednesday night, the Lakers clinging to his unparalleled focus, the Houston Rockets recoiling from it, a playoff series pulled taut between them.

The storyline played out, almost predictably, to Bryant's personal vision, and the NBA's most drama-drunk team clinched its first-round series with a 97-78 victory at Staples Center, setting up another showdown with the San Antonio Spurs, the team that took their championship away last spring.

The conference semifinal series opens Sunday at the SBC Center. Tipoff is 12:30 p.m.

Often distracted through the regular season and parts of the past two weeks, the Lakers will have no difficulty finding their focus for the next round. The history is too thick to ignore.

``I'm sure,'' said Derek Fisher, ``the emotion will be there when we get started on Sunday.''

The next series, like the first one, will be laced with Bryant's personal turmoil, though it hardly seemed to have any bearing on the Lakers' fate Wednesday. After spending three consecutive days shuttling to Eagle, Colo., and back for pretrial hearings in his sexual assault case, Bryant arrived 26 minutes before tipoff, then played his best all-around game in nearly two months.

He scored 31 points and dished out 10 assists, leaving the floor as he arrived - to a standing ovation, with the Lakers leading by 23 and 6:16 left to play. He got a hug from Rick Fox and then Karl Malone before settling in to enjoy the final minutes as the Lakers closed out the Rockets, four games to one.

Afterward, his eyes drooping and his 15-month-old daughter Natalia sitting in his lap, Bryant was a picture of contentment and exhaustion.

``My eyes were getting heavy, real heavy,'' he said. ``You just try to shake it off.''

Most of the series had been a struggle, but this one was put away with relative ease, with a 25-9 third quarter that was equal parts Bryant (on offense) and Shaquille O'Neal (on defense).

Malone continued his postseason revival with 18 points and nine rebounds. Slava Medvedenko scored 12 points.

O'Neal also finished with 12 points and passed Larry Bird for sixth on the all-time playoff scoring list but left without speaking to reporters - a sign that he wasn't happy just playing what coach Phil Jackson called ``one of the best defensive games I've ever seen Shaquille play.''

Walled off by Yao Ming and Kelvin Cato, O'Neal again had difficulty establishing position, and when he did, he often waited for a pass that never came. He was called for a pair of 3-second violations and didn't hit double figures until the 38th minute of play.

But O'Neal didn't let Yao Ming (10 points, 3 for 10) do much either, and in the third quarter, he channeled his energy into a defensive assault. He blocked Yao twice and Steve Francis once in a two-minute span, sparking the Lakers' best run of the night, a 15-1 surge that gave them a 64-53 lead and doubled the decibel level in the building.

The Rockets converted just two field goals on 16 attempts in the period and were never heard from again.

Francis and Cuttino Mobley, who cut up the Lakers' interior defense often through the first four games, had little success with their season suddenly on the line. Mobley dropped 14 points in the first quarter, then went scoreless in the next 23 minutes of play. Francis was 0 for 5 in the third quarter.

``You've got to take your hat off to them,'' said Francis, who scored 16 points on 15 shots. ``One of their two best players had a great game despite everything that was going on.''

It was Bryant's third court-to-court transition since mid-December, and he again navigated it flawlessly. The Lakers are now 3-0 on the days he returns from court, an encouraging sign since he will be back in court May 10-12, in the middle of the next round.

``It was just good to see him,'' Fisher said. ``We didn't know if and when he'd be back. ' It's amazing, no matter how you try and break it down.''

After watching Bryant turn erratic for the past four weeks - a blur of forced shots, poor decision-making and horrid field-goal percentages - the Lakers were thrilled to have the Bryant of early March back among them.

Jackson had to bench Bryant briefly in the first quarter when Mobley got hot - ``He couldn't get focused,'' Jackson said - but he was nearly flawless thereafter.

``He sparked to it,'' Jackson said. ``He got himself going and had a great game, picked us up out of what looked like a real dismal start.''

Howard Beck, [phone]

howard.beck(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

14 photos, 4 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Houston guard Steve Francis runs into trouble in the form of Kobe Bryant during the Lakers' 97-78 series-clinching victory at Staples Center on Wednesday.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(2) Gary Payton has to hand it to Kobe Bryant, who had 31 points after spending the day in court.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

(3) KOBE BRYANT

(4) GARY PAYTON

(5) SHAQUILLE O'NEAL

(6) KARL MALONE

(7) DEVEAN GEORGE

(8) DEREK FISHER

(9) CUTTINO MOBLEY

(10) STEVE FRANCIS

(11) YAO MING

(12) KELVIN CATO

(13) JIM JACKSON

(14) MAURICE TAYLOR

Box:

(1) STORY LINES

(2) REPORT CARD

(3) LAKERS vs. ROCKETS: Lakers lead best-of-seven series 4-1

(4) A CLOSER LOOK: GAME 5

By Lauren Gustus