NO HELP, NO PROBLEM; LAKERS RIP SPURS FORWARDS HORRY, KNIGHT : LAKERS 106 SAN ANTONIO 94.

Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer

Outside the Forum, a weathered ``Help Wanted'' sign hung still, like a desperate beacon for help. Inside, the Laker Corp.'s human resources department awaited word from their top candidate for the newly vacated position of power forward.

Trouble was, the applicant, a Mr. Worm, was still evaluating career opportunities with other corporations. And while he dithered and delayed, the Lakers and their depleted corps of power forwards took on one of their toughest rival firms, the Twin Towers of San Antonio.

Even without Robert Horry, Travis Knight and, well, that tattooed guy also, the Lakers managed to play one of their best games of the season, taking down the Spurs 106-94 before a rabid sellout crowd.

The Lakers shot a season-high 56.9 percent to beat the Spurs for a sixth consecutive time and record their first three-game winning streak of the season.

Facing David Robinson and Tim Duncan, it was enough of a concern that the Lakers were without Horry, lost indefinitely to an irregular heartbeat. But by tipoff, they also found themselves without Travis Knight, their top backup at the position, whose sprained left ankle was too much to bear.

And Dennis Rodman? He was in the building, but nowhere near the Laker bench, still without a signed contract and taking the weekend to make the decision he's failed to make the last three weeks.

His only appearance of the night was a stroll down the aisle at courtside late in the fourth quarter that got the 17,505 in attendance in a frenzy and a brief ``Rod-man'' chant.

The Lakers' real saviors this night were Shaquille O'Neal with 28 points, Kobe Bryant with 21 and Derek Harper with a season-high 18 on 8-of-9 shooting in just 25 minutes. Eddie Jones scored 16.

Duncan led the Spurs with 26, but missed half his 20 shots. Sean Elliot added 20 points.

Coming off back-to-back routs of Charlotte and Dallas, but without a victory over a legitimate contender since Feb. 8 - when they beat the Spurs in San Antonio - the Lakers needed a victory to maintain any sense of confidence.

``You can't have a mental letdown,'' Bryant said. ``When you beat a team by 20 points, you can come into the next game feeling overconfident, feeling too comfortable. You want to try to avoid that as much as you can and forget about what happened the last two games.''

Overconfidence ceased to be a problem once the Lakers realized they were minus two forwards and down to 10 players not wearing designer suits.

Before tipoff, Harris had sought to reassure himself and everyone else that the Lakers would be OK - ``Robert played really well in San Antonio, but we didn't have Travis. At least now we have Travis.''

Then Knight was scratched, and Corie Blount stepped into the starting lineup.

Duncan wasted no time taking advantage of the depleted lineup, scoring six points in the first four minutes of the game. But a combination of Blount, Sean Rooks, Shaquille O'Neal and a few spare parts held Duncan to just seven the rest of the half, and Robinson to four points, and the Lakers kept the score close, trailing 50-45 at halftime.

By the time Duncan got loose again - for 11 points in the third quarter - it hardly mattered, because his teammates had disappeared. The Lakers outscored the Spurs 30-20 in the quarter as San Antonio shot 30 percent.

Notes: As expected, the Lakers placed rookies Tyronn Lue (back spasms) and Sam Jacobson (broken finger) on the injured list to reduce the roster from 14 to 12 on the NBA's cutdown day. Under NBA rules they must sit out at least five games.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--Color) Shaquille O'Neal, middle, had his hands full battling Antonio's David Robinson (50) and Tim Duncan (23).

(2) Shaquille O'Neal shoots over San Antonio's Tim Duncan during the Lakers' 106-94 victory.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News

Box: GAME RECAP