NEW CAST PUTS ON A SHOW FOR JORDAN AND FRIENDS.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

He got his Hollywood endin, but it was in Utah. So Sunday afternoon Michael Jordan returned to the Forum for the fond farewell the Lakers had effectively denied him by imploding against Utah in last spring's Western Conference finals.

He got his standing ovation and a reunion of sorts with former teammates Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. The Lakers got a look at what might have been, if only last spring could have been re-shot, like in the movies, with the new cast that Jerry Buss and Jerry West have assembled.

Charles Barkley is going to hate us for saying this, but if the Lakers had displayed as much energy and selflessness against the Jazz as they did in their nationally televised matinee against Houston, it very well could have been Jordan's Chicago Bulls against the Lakers for all the 1998 NBA Finals ratings records.

Of course, the Lakers flew by the Rockets 106-90 with the help of someone who spent three seasons in the trenches in Chicago playing Edward Burns to Jordan's Tom Hanks. Rodman led the ten rebounding for the second time in as many games as a Laker and was even spotted doing something rarely seen while he was helping the Bulls to three consecutive NBA titles.

That would be talk to Jordan. Their exchange took place with a minute left in the first half and the Lakers ahead by four. Rodman was stretched out in front of the scorer's table, a few feet to the left of Jordan's courtside seat alongside Jack Nicholson.

The conversation, Rodman said, went something like this:

Jordan: ``Man, I thought you'd never get married.''

Rodman, who recently wed actress Carmen Electra: ``Yeah, bro, well, you know.''

What, you thought they'd talk about L.A.'s golf courses?

Now, Barkley and Jordan, that's another story. The last time the two best buddies graced the same piece of California real estate was during the Bob Hope Desert Classic.

Truth to tell, Barkley looked like he was having a lot more fun playing very bad golf in Palm Springs than pretty decent basall in his first game back since undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Feb. 14.

Barkley finished with six rebounds and 14 points. His best shots came before the opening tipoff when he sat in street clothes in the visitors' locker room and spoke of the Lakers as though they were the NBA's emperor with no clothes.

``NBC thinks just because they show the Lakers on TV every week that it makes them good,'' Barkley barked. ``I'm sick of the L.A. press telling Kobe that he's Jordanesque so much that he's believing it. Well, they're not and he's not.''

It's true that in Year One A.M. (after Michael), the Lakers have been as much a fixture on Sundays as ``60 Minutes.'' This was their fourth nationally televised Sunday game in as many weeks. They lost the other three, but that was before Kurt Rambis got the Lakers' undivided attention and Rodman became something other than a distraction.

All the preaching about playing hard-nosed defense and making the extra pass on offense tfell on deaf ears when Del Harris was at the pulpit suddenly is drawing hallelujahs all around.

After seeing Harris get booted from the building, the players don't need a charismatic speaker to move them. Rambis could communicate in sign language right now and get positive results.

``Guys don't want to seem like it's them that's the problem,'' said guard Eddie Jones, so ``guys are making the extra effort.''

That was especially true on defense. The Lakers had four blocked shots (to the Rockets' none) and outscored the Rockets on the fast break 23-8.

Shaquille O'Neal led the parade to the basket with 22 points, but on this day unlike so many others, there were ample scoring options when he was being double-teamed.

Rick Fox came off the bench in the second half and made all five 3-pointers he tried on his way to 21 points. Jones had an all-around solid game, with 13 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Bryant missed eight of his first 12 shots on the to 18 points but was a burr in Pippen's side defensively from the start, just like in the first game of the season. In the end, Bryant outscored Pippen 18-16.

O'Neal stated what was self-evident to anyone in the crowd of 17,505 when he said: ``We're having fun and playing a lot looser. We are going to more options instead of doing what everybody expects us to do.''

It's one thing, though, to play with energy and emotion when Michael Jordan is in the building, a national-television audience is tuned in and their most outspoken critic is on the court. A truer test for the Lakers than the game just played are the four that follow: tonight and Wednesday against Phoenix, Friday against Seattle and Sunday in Utah.

Did we mention the Lakers' game against the Jazz will be televised on NBC?

Personally, Barkley doesn't see why the network can't fall in love with Portland. Nothing he saw on this day from the Lakers moved him.

``They didn't show me anything,'' Barkley said with a sni ``except that Rick Fox needs a raise.''