THE NBA PLAYOFFS : Lakers Learn What It’s Like in the Corner : A Rocket Victory Tonight Ends Defending Champions’ Season

If anyone is looking for a sign or a signal from the Lakers, consider this one: Where do you suppose they huddled before practice Tuesday at Loyola Marymount?

In the corner of the gym.

“Right where we belong,” Coach Pat Riley said.

Whether the Lakers, who are backed into a corner in the Western Conference final, really belong somewhere else, such as in the championship series or on summer vacation, could well be decided tonight.

At this point, the Lakers haven’t played as if they’re ready for Boston, which goes a long way toward explaining why the Houston Rockets are one victory away from being there themselves.

“Our pride is on the line,” Laker forward James Worthy said.

And so is the end of the season. Houston brings a 3-1 lead into the Forum in its best-of-seven game series with the Lakers, and if it beats them once more, the Lakers are finished.

Clearly, this is not the best situation for the Lakers, but since it’s the only one they have, they hope to make the best of it.

“All we want is one win,” Laker guard Magic Johnson said. “Once you get one, you never know what will happen from there. If we play our game, we can win, no question. We just haven’t played our game yet.”

So far, Johnson is right, at least in the last two games. The Lakers say they remain confident, but they have surprised themselves and even the Rockets with their alarming ability to lose games down the stretch.

“No doubt, it is surprising,” the Rockets’ Ralph Sampson said. “But that’s the way the game really goes. Whoever puts the defensive pressure on, that’s what takes place. It may be surprising, but our intensity has something to do with it.”

Maybe Sampson is right, because in the fourth quarter of the last two games, the Lakers have managed only 18 points and 16 points and have been outscored, 52-34.

In Game 3 at Houston, the Lakers were tied with the Rockets, 103-103, with 6:07 to play. But from that point on, the Lakers made one basket in eight attempts, committed three turnovers and closed with just six points.

Then in Game 4, the Lakers trailed by only five points, 93-88, with 6:40 to play. From then on, the Lakers made 3 of 11 shots, committed two turnovers and wound up with only seven points.

So during a combined 12:47 of fourth-quarter finishes in their last two playoff games, the Lakers have scored exactly 13 points--6 by Abdul-Jabbar, 3 by Worthy, 2 by Johnson and 2 by Maurice Lucas.

If this is “winning time,” then it may already have expired.

However, Riley resisted any suggestion that the Laker failings late in both games mean they are through.

“Except for the last four or five minutes, I thought we played very well,” he said. “I have tremendous faith in this team’s character. I don’t care what is being said--we were just a short hop away from winning those two games.”

The fact that the Lakers won neither has not diminished Riley’s belief that the team can come back.

“They’ve played three better games,” he said. “That doesn’t mean they are the better team.”

Look at it this way: For the Rockets to win again tonight, the defending National Basketball Assn. champions would have to lose a fourth consecutive game and finish the season with a loss on their home court.

Not too long ago, that would have seemed nearly impossible. Perhaps that is the reason the Rockets insist that they aren’t champions of anything yet.

“For anybody to count them out, it’s dangerous,” Sampson said. “There’s no need for us to celebrate anything right now.”

Said Rocket guard Robert Reid: “It’s still only 4:30, and the boss doesn’t want to see anybody leaving work early.”

So how will the Lakers come out, now that they’re backed into a corner? Laker center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said he preferred to wait and see.

“We’ve been in every game, so we know we have the potential to win them,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “We’re going to have to put a little more effort in and do the right things at the right time.

“We have been in very difficult situations before, but this is as tough as you can get without being out of it. We’re just going to do what we can to make sure it doesn’t end tonight and then see what happens.

“That’s all anybody can expect from us.”

The Lakers don’t want the strain to show, but sometimes it slips out anyway.

Riley was repeatedly questioned by reporters about whether the Lakers had enough left to come back against the Rockets, and he became more agitated each time.

When he was asked one last time, Riley grabbed a long microphone held by a television sound man, pulled it to his mouth and answered loudly: “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Earlier, he reacted testily when asked to assess the mood of the Lakers.

“Up! Up!” he said. “What the hell is there to be down about?”

In a calmer mood, Riley said he gave no speeches to his players.

“They’ve heard it all before,” he said. “Rallying speeches and battle cries, they’re for General Patton’s books.”

Laker Notes

James Worthy thinks it’s time for the Lakers to stop worrying about the Rockets’ Akeem Olajuwon. “We may have to just let him get his and shut everybody else down,” he said. “We need to play all of them as individuals and don’t just concentrate on one with so much defensive help.” . . . Earlier in the season, the Lakers were stressing the importance of Byron Scott’s aggressive drives to the basket because of the possibility of going to the free-throw line, but in the last two games, Scott has not shot a free throw. . . . The Rockets have out-rebounded the Lakers in all four games and have attempted 28 more free throws. Olajuwon has shot 55 free throws to 24 by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, so Pat Riley questioned the officiating. “The treatment of him over Kareem is ridiculous,” the coach said. . . . Riley said he has also given up trying to get illegal-defense violations called against Olajuwon by placing Kurt Rambis past the free-throw line, where Olajuwon is not supposed to be in a position to help defensively near the basket. “Who cares now?” Riley said. . . . The Lakers haven’t lost three straight games since late January, when Magic Johnson was out with a swollen right knee. The last time the Lakers lost four consecutive playoff games was when they were swept by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1983 league championship series.