Lakers Knock the Super Out of Sonics : NBA playoffs: Ceballos, Van Exel and Divac lead 105-101 victory that gives L.A. 2-1 edge in series.

Having spent the last couple of weeks trying to regain control of their season, the Lakers did much more Monday night.

They took control of their first-round playoff series.

With Cedric Ceballos scoring 24 points, Nick Van Exel 23 and Vlade Divac 20, they earned a 2-1 lead over the Seattle SuperSonics with a 105-101 victory before a delirious crowd of 17,505 at the Forum and moved within a game of advancing to the second round and a date with the San Antonio-Denver winner.

The Lakers can clinch the series Thursday night at the Forum.

The Lakers led by as many as 15 points in the third quarter, the last time at 75-60 with 2:53 remaining. But they couldn’t put the SuperSonics away. A 12-4 rally, capped by Sam Perkins’ three-point shot with 2:42 left, narrowed the gap to 96-93.

It was still a four-point game, 98-94, with 1 1/2 minutes to go.

One free throw by Vlade Divac made it 99-94 with 48 seconds remaining. Twenty-four seconds later, fouled by Shawn Kemp, Divac was back at the line and this time made both free throws for a five-point advantage. When Van Exel did the same with 13.3 seconds to play, the lead was 103-99.

Kemp scored a game-high 30 points for the SuperSonics.

Seattle came in having scored 96 and 82 points while shooting a combined 39%, so Coach George Karl shook up the lineup by replacing Ervin Johnson with Perkins at center in hopes of better passing and general offensive production.

It was hardly a shock to the system--former Laker Perkins had played about twice as many minutes in the series so far--but only the third time all season that this starting unit had beentogether.

“It gives them a little more offense and a little less defense,” Laker Coach Del Harris said before the game. “Well, it gives them a lot more offense, as a matter of fact.”

It didn’t make a difference, as a matter of fact, not when the Lakers sprinted out to a 34-22 lead at the end of the first quarter, the most points they had scored in a period all series.

It could have been worse, but 7-foot-1 Divac was unable to take advantage of his four-inch height advantage on Perkins.

With the most raucous crowd of the season cheering every positive Laker move--even chanting “Ed-die! Ed-die!” when Eddie Jones entered, as if to try and jump-start the struggling shooting guard--the lead reached 44-26 with 8:45 left in the first half.

But then the pendulum swung, hard. The SuperSonics responded with an 18-2 run to close within 46-44, Detlef Schrempf accounting for seven points and Kemp six. The Lakers, 15 of 24 from the field just before that, went one for eight with two turnovers in those 5 1/2 minutes.

Then the pendulum swung the other way.

It took four shots on the same possession, but Ceballos’ bank from the left flat finally got the Laker offense going again, the start of a 10-0 run that brought Seattle’s comeback to a temporary halt.

Even after Perkins’ three-point shot at the buzzer, the Laker lead was still 56-47 at halftime. Heading into the fourth quarter, the cushion remained nine, 81-72.

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If Denver beats San Antonio tonight, Game 4 of the Laker-SuperSonic series Thursday will begin at 8:30.

If the Spurs win to close out that series, game time at the Forum will be 7:30.