A Summit Meeting for Lakers : Rockets Putting 25-1 Home Mark to Test Tonight

HOUSTON — John Lucas, believing that all bad things must come to an end, figures it must be just about time for the Houston Rockets to win a home game against the Lakers.

The Lakers will play the Rockets tonight in the Summit, where the Lakers have won 13 consecutive times. The last time the Rockets beat the Lakers here was Nov. 12, 1980.

“The string has to be broken,” said Lucas, the Rocket point guard. “It just can’t go on forever, can it?”

Probably not, especially since the Rockets have been pretty close to unbeatable at home this season. At risk is Houston’s league-best 25-1 record at the Summit, which was in serious jeopardy in their last game.

Denver held a 16-point lead in the third quarter, but Lucas scored 29 points and had 12 assists as the Rockets rallied for a 104-102 victory.

Lucas, at 32 the oldest Rocket, cautioned against reading too much into the outcome of the Laker game.

“Win or lose, it won’t make or break our season or theirs,” Lucas said. “It’s just at times of the season like this, when the playoffs are still a long way off, you have to have some kind of motivating factor. Ours is the streak.”

The Lakers carry their own motivation. In their last 20 games, they are only 12-8, and although they have won three of their last four games, tonight’s game with the Rockets may be an early indication of how they’ll match up if the two teams meet again in the playoffs.

Of course, that’s what many expected of the Rockets last season--that they would meet the Lakers in the playoffs and perhaps even beat them. Instead, Utah eliminated the Rockets in the first round.

For that reason, Lucas said, the Rockets don’t want to get ahead of themselves.

“What we’ve got to worry about first is winning the division,” he said. “Then we have to forget about the division and worry about the first round of the playoffs, then move on from there.

“We’ve been doing a lot of things right so far this season, but how good we are now is, well, pretty good,” he said. “We’re a lot like the Lakers, Boston and Philadelphia in that each night we know we can get it done.

“The Lakers are always going to be there, which gives us something to shoot for. When that time comes, hopefully, then we’ll see whether it’s true we’re as good as they are.”

Laker Notes In six games over the last two seasons, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has averaged 31.7 points against the Rockets. . . . Two Rockets are All-Stars: Ralph Sampson will start at forward for the West, and Akeem Olajuwon backs up Abdul-Jabbar at center. Sampson isn’t scoring or shooting very well--he’s averaging 17.9 points on 48.9% marksmanship--but he’s averaging 11.3 rebounds. After 48 games, he trails Olajuwon by just two rebounds, 545-543. Olajuwon is averaging 23.4 points and 11.4 rebounds. . . . The Lakers have won 18 of their last 20 games against the Rockets. . . . Houston is 33-15, but only 8-14 on the road, where the Lakers are 15-7. . . . Tonight’s game will be the last for the Lakers before the All-Star break. The Lakers will play again Tuesday night at Golden State.