Quiet on Western Front

SACRAMENTO — At the end of a game the Sacramento Kings never led, at the end of a day this town was sure would help alter the course of NBA basketball forever, nothing had changed at all.

The Lakers, twice-defending champions, twice at the expense of the Kings along the way, were 106-99 winners Saturday afternoon in the opening game of the Western Conference finals at Arco Arena.

Kobe Bryant scored 30 points, 10 in the fourth quarter, and Shaquille O’Neal scored 26, 14 in the third, and the Lakers rode a 36-point first quarter to the final seconds, when the loudest noise was work boots on arena stairs. Game 2 is Monday night.

“I knew my guys were going to be ready,” O’Neal said. “[The Kings] asked for us. We’re here.”

The Kings, who had home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series based on their regular-season record, lost six months of work when the Lakers made nine consecutive shots early in the first quarter. The Kings were not outscored in any of the final three quarters, but never had another critical possession, never had a shot that could have drawn them even, and certainly never had another chance to win, even in the arena they believed would save them.

“We know we’ve got them by the throat a little bit,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “We knew how important this game was for us, and for them.”

The Lakers won their 12th consecutive road playoff game--a league record that pulled them through six previous series, including one here last season--and their 24th playoff game in 26.

The home-court advantage the Kings believed would be the difference this season? The four home games--if they needed them--that would rid them and the NBA of the Lakers?

Gone.

Gone when Bryant shook Doug Christie at the elbow in the fourth quarter and made a turn-around jump shot that brought back all of the doubts.

“He always looks the same to me,” Sacramento Coach Rick Adelman said. “He kicks our tails every time we play them.... There’s nothing he can’t do.”

Gone as early as the third quarter, when O’Neal followed a Bryant miss with a hard, loud dunk, raced to the other end, blocked Hedo Turkoglu’s floater into the third row, and then took a rebound on Turkoglu’s next miss. He stopped shooting after that.

“Nothing really fazes us,” O’Neal said. “If we do what we’re supposed to do, we’re going to have a game like that.”

Unbowed by a Game 1 away from Staples Center, the Lakers were dynamic and largely unemotional. O’Neal seemed to play from beneath his large brow, his head tilted slightly forward. Bryant played without expression, until the end, when he grinned at the Kings’ pleas for fairer officiating.

“We’ve really been looking forward to getting back to this point,” Bryant said. “We have been playing all season just to get here. So to get here is kind of a relief. The challenge of playing Sacramento and not having home-court advantage, and then our execution improving steadily ... feels great.”

It showed in the way Rick Fox dogged Turkoglu, Peja Stojakovic’s replacement at small forward. Turkoglu missed all eight of his shots and did not score. Stojakovic, who has a sprained ankle, is expected to sit out at least one more game.

It showed in Robert Horry’s quest to become the third scorer for whom Jackson had asked. He scored 18 points and took eight rebounds, despite several hard falls and at least one rake across the mouth and his braces, which drew blood.

While King forward Chris Webber scored 28 points and took 14 rebounds, most of them over and around Horry, he operated mostly from 15 to 18 feet, which was the Laker strategy.

The crowd, the incredible noise, was not a factor. The people here stood occasionally when it looked as though the Kings were in the game, or about to be in the game. But they sat, even when Webber begged them to stand and cheer, and even when Bobby Jackson, who scored 21 points, tumbled into the stands and was kissed on the head by two female fans.

By then, it was too late. Stifled by the San Antonio Spurs in the last round and sluggish against the Portland Trail Blazers in the first series, the Lakers scored more than in any playoff game since Game 5 of last season’s NBA Finals--another road victory.

“We take a lot of pride in our streak [of road wins],” Fox said. “We recognize that when we win on the road, we have a good chance of winning the series.

“Teams will settle for a split, but we have a goal to win both games on the road.”

The smoke had not yet cleared from the Kings’ elaborate pregame ceremony and the Lakers led, 13-4, and then 24-14 and then 31-18 and finally 36-22, their highest-scoring quarter of the playoffs. They had 11 assists on 16 field goals.

They crashed into the middle of the Kings’ soft interior. Every dribble took the Lakers closer to the rim, and the quarter featured no fewer than three Bryant dunks--two tomahawk jobs, one two-handed alley-oop--and eight points from Horry.

Asked how this could have happened, Adelman raised his eyebrows.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I wish I knew. I guess I better find out by Monday.”

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By the Numbers

12 - Consecutive Laker road wins in playoffs, an NBA record

6 - Laker victories in their last seven games at Arco Arena

112 - Decibels of crowd noise before tipoff

9 - Laker baskets in their first 10 shots, quieting crowd and establishing lead they never gave up

10 - Fourth-quarter points for Kobe Bryant

0 - Points in 29 minutes for King forward Hedo Turkoglu

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Scoring King

Kobe Bryant continued his high-scoring antics against Sacramento in Game 1 of the Western Conference final:

*--* 2000 1st 2001 Conf. 2002 Conf. Total 10 Games Round 5 Semi. 4 Games Fin. Saturday Games Pts 139 133 30 302 Pts P/G 27.8 33.3 30.2 FG M-A P/G 11.2-22.6 13.5-26.5 12-26 11.0-22.4 FG Pct 496 514 461 491 FT M-A P/G 2.4-5.4 5.0-6.5 6-7 4.7-6.0 FT Pct 778 769 857 783

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