SPRINGTIME MEANS IT'S SHAQ'S TIME HE SCORES 41 AS LAKERS BEAT SONICS LAKERS 111, SEATTLE 104.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

This is the Lakers' world and so they make the rules, and the one at the top of the list - in bold type, all caps, underlined three times - is the one that says nothing matters 'til mid-April. Or something to that effect.

They believe it, they live it, they practice it. No one more than Shaquille O'Neal, who plods through the fall and winter, then picks up his pace right around the time the Dodgers lose their first pitcher to an arm injury.

So on Monday night at Staples Center, with the Lakers floating between playoff positions, needing a final kick before the playoffs open this weekend, O'Neal did what he does when the season gets his attention.

He crossed over and drove around Jerome James. He finished the fast break with a powerful slam and a full-body shimmy. He ran over the Seattle SuperSonics and pulled his teammates along for a 111-104 victory that kept the Lakers in position to finish with the NBA's second-best record.

This was O'Neal at his finest - 41 points, 11 rebounds - and his most energetic, made more impressive by the fact he'd played 49 minutes in Sunday's double-overtime loss at Portland.

And this was the Lakers at their most interested, playing as if the outcome mattered. Which, finally, it does.

``I think my guys were bored during the regular season and were looking forward to the postseason that's coming up,'' O'Neal said. ``I have confidence in my guys. I know they're going to be there, I know they're going to play hard, they know they still have something to prove, and it's going to be fun.''

The victory, the Lakers' 14th in a row at home, moved them a half-game ahead of San Antonio and Dallas. They can secure the No. 3 seed, and eventual homecourt advantage over the Spurs and Mavericks, with a victory over Sacramento on Wednesday.

All five Lakers starters scored in double figures, a feat they haven't achieved since March 2001, and as good a sign as any that the offense is healthy.

``We're playing well,'' said Kobe Bryant, who finished with 19 points. ``We're doing a good job defensively. Our offense is coming around. Shaq had a marvelous game tonight. It looks like he's ready for the playoffs. So we're OK. It's very encouraging, because we've been improving slowly but surely and tonight was an example of that.''

O'Neal was deadly efficient, going 16 for 19 from the field and 9 for 11 from the foul line, for his seventh 40-point game this season. He was ruthless against James, the Sonics' young center, particularly in a ferocious third quarter that put the game away.

The Lakers opened the third with a 23-8 run to take an 83-62 lead, getting big dunks from O'Neal and a flurry of buckets from Bryant.

``We had a third quarter that looked like a team I remember that played a little bit in the playoffs last year,'' coach Phil Jackson said. ``Shaq was incredible, dominating out there.''

Bryant, who ended his two-game headband experiment, scored 15 points in the third after an odd first half in which he had more fouls (three) than points (two). Combined with Sunday's two overtime periods, Bryant went 31 minutes without scoring before finally throwing down an alley-oop dunk with 2:46 left in the second quarter.

``I was just kind of coasting the first half,'' he said. ``I let my teammates see where their game is. I think it's more important for them to have a rhythm going into the playoffs, as opposed to myself.''

And so Samaki Walker scored 12 points, Rick Fox 10 and Derek Fisher 13 in an unusually balanced performance.

One more game, and the Lakers finally can put another annoying regular season behind them. It is, of course what they've been waiting for all along.

``Eighty-two games,'' Jackson said with a smile, ``is awfully long. We know what we're after and we're getting there. We couldn't be happier that this (week) brings the end of the regular season.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal gets by Seattle's Jerome Jones for a dunk in the first half Monday night.

(2) Kobe Bryant, who finished with 19 points, is fouled by the Sonics' Ansu Sesay during the Lakers' 111-104 victory at Staples Center.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

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