RICE WILL SUFFICE; A 23-POINT NIGHT ICED BY KEY SHOT : LAKERS 91 PHOENIX 90.

Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer

Strange evening in the Valley of the Sun.

A cross-dressing tattooed guy with bright yellowish hair running around the arena, a fellow cross-dresser and alleged sex offender broadcasting the game from midcourt, a handful of testy officials handing out ejections left and right. . .

And amid all the oddities, the most normal event of the night was a game-winning shot by a guy who was too sick to practice for the past two days.

But there was nothing abnormal, or the slightest bit sick, with Glen Rice's treasured shooting touch.

Though suffering from a bad cold for three days, Rice posted his best performance since joining the Lakers, scoring 23 points and the game-winning 17-foot baseline jumper with 7.1 seconds left for a 91-90 victory Friday at sold-out America West Arena.

The shot no doubt evoked a trademark ``Yessss!'' from TNT announcer Marv Albert at courtside.

It also brought on an impromptu dance session along the Lakers bench, as they celebrated their first three-game winning streak since early March - about the same time they scrambled the roster by acquiring Rice from Charlotte.

``It feels good,'' Rice said. ``Like I've always told people, once my legs get up under me, it's gonna be a big advantage for this team. . . . I want the ball when the game is on the line, and I wanna do whatever I can to get this team over the hump.''

No one will argue with him.

Rice has been up and down since coming to the Lakers, having arrived out of shape from a 10-month layoff. And the illness the past two days looked like a setback. Instead, he hit 10 of 16 shots and 3 of 6 from 3-point range.

Exactly what Shaquille O'Neal ordered up when he made his plea for a shooting ace.

``Exactly,'' O'Neal said. ``I'm glad we got a deadly shooter like Glen Rice, and I'm glad I'm the general manager of this team. I've got my team just the way I want it.''

Maybe even better than he wanted. The less-heralded part of the trade, J.R. Reid, came up with 14 points off the bench, including 10 in the second quarter as the Lakers took a 44-38 halftime lead.

But it went down to the wire anyway. The potent Suns whittled down several Lakers leads behind offensive outbursts from Clifford Robinson (game-high 30 points) and Jason Kidd's 23 points.

Phoenix only took the lead just three times all night, and briefly, but the last one nearly stuck when Kidd converted a 3-point play with 11.3 seconds left. Kidd scored the fastbreak layup and drew a foul from Derek Harper to put Phoenix up, 90-89.

The Lakers' inbounds play could have gone to Kobe Bryant at the top of the arc, or to Harper, but Robert Horry made eye contact with Rice, who broke free to take the pass. He dribbled to the baseline, gave a quick fake to Danny Manning and hit the open shot.

``He buckled a little bit, and I just rose up over him and shot it,'' Rice said. ``It was a wide-open shot, I gotta hit that.''

The Suns inbounded the ball with 7.1 seconds left, but the play was disrupted when Manning was caught at the top of the key. George McCloud, who had hurt the Lakers with his 3-point shooting, then tossed up a 20-foot airball at the buzzer.

After four tough games, and three wins, against the Suns, the Lakers have gotten used to scraping by. They lost a lead of as many as 14 points Friday.

``It would have been nice to maintain the leads that we had,'' Rambis said. ``However, they're a team that's fully capable of erasing a 20-point lead in six or seven minutes. So the fact we held them off, that's what I was pleased with tonight.''

It left the Suns shaking their heads, wondering how to beat a team that wins despite off nights from the likes of Bryant (7 for 20).

``They're just a great team,'' Kidd said. ``You can only take away one option, and they still have three more options. . . . You can only hope that they have a bad game.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: (Color) Despite shooting 7 for 20, the Lakers' Kobe Brant draws the attention of the Suns' Luc Longley, Toby Bailey and Jason Kidd.

Ken Levine/Associated Press

Box: GAME RECAP