Laker Skid Reaches 4 in Chicago : Bulls’ 3-Pointers, Jordan’s 42 Help Burn L.A., 116-103

A 4-game regular-season losing streak, something that happens to the Lakers once every decade or so, was painfully absorbed by those responsible Tuesday night.

After their latest failure, a 116-103 loss to the Chicago Bulls, the players’ reactions varied. Emotions were as easy for them to control as Michael Jordan, who scored 42 points, or the Bulls’ outside shooting, which resulted in eight 3-point shots.

Magic Johnson was in the throes of depression, staring at the floor and barely speaking above a whisper.

“Losing two in a row is not a good feeling,” said Johnson, who led the Lakers with 31 points and 12 assists. “Losing three in a row is hard to deal with. Now, this is an all-time low for me. I’m trying to figure out how to deal with this. It’s not easy.”

Not far away, Michael Cooper spoke through clenched teeth and had clenched fists.

“I’m not embarrassed, I’m . . . angry,” Cooper said. “Angry at ourselves for the way we’re playing. I’ve never lost 4 in a row, even in Y-league. I wouldn’t even think of us losing four in a row. But it’s a reality.”

And Coach Pat Riley said he felt frustrated but did not believe the situation was catastrophic.

“A lot of teams lose four in a row,” Riley said. “But it’s the first time it’s happened in my coaching career. It feels bad. It feels like every other coach who’s lost four in a row. We’re in a period where we are struggling, and we’ll have to deal with it.”

True, Riley is not the first NBA coach to experience it, nor will he be the last, but he is one of the few who have the level of talent the Lakers have. The last time the Lakers lost four straight regular-season games was in March, 1979, although they lost four in a row against Philadelphia in the 1983 National Basketball Assn. finals and against Houston in the 1986 Western Conference finals.

The Lakers fell short in the usual areas Tuesday night. They shot poorly at crucial times, failed to maintain their running game and had key defensive lapses.

It is no coincidence that the slide has occurred during their longest trip, a 7-game, 11-day Eastern odyssey that ended Tuesday night.

The Lakers can take solace in knowing that they return to the Forum on Friday night to play Sacramento, a reliable punching bag of a franchise that hasn’t won at the Forum since 1974 (33 games).

“For 11 days and 7 games, we’ve been booed and cheered against in every . . . place,” Cooper said. “And now we need to go home do it. We need a blowout, not a one-point win or something. If it’s Sacramento we’re playing, then they’re in trouble. I don’t care if it was Boston or anybody else, we’re going home to prove ourselves.”

Maybe it was road weariness, but the Lakers’ resolve was not as intense against the Bulls, who have won three straight. The Lakers’ play was uneven, but it was not without encouraging signs.

A poor start and a poor finish did in the Lakers (16-8). They were outscored, 10-1, in the first 3 minutes, and the Bulls staged a 23-5 run in the final 4:46 to erase a 5-point Laker lead. In between, however, the Lakers played as well as they did Dec. 13 against Cleveland, their last victory.

After the Lakers overcame a 17-point first-half deficit and took a 98-93 lead with 5:11 left in the game, the Bulls began an onslaught with John Paxson’s 3-point shot with 4:46 left and ended it with Jack Haley’s uncontested layup at the buzzer.

Paxson’s 3-point shot, giving the Bulls a club-record 8 for the game, narrowed the Laker lead to two at 98-96. Two free throws by Bill Cartwright tied it at 98, but then Johnson sank a jump shot with 2 seconds remaining on the shot clock to reclaim a 100-98 Laker lead with 3:54 to play.

Johnson’s basket represented the last Laker points until James Worthy, who finished with 24, sank a 3-point shot with 30 seconds left. During the Laker void, the Bulls took advantage of the opportunities to pull away.

What may have been the game’s turning point occurred with 3:34 to play, shortly after Johnson’s shot. Just as Worthy stole a Chicago pass and took off for a layup, the play was whistled dead, and A.C. Green was called for illegal defense.

The officials ruled that Green was sagging too far into the lane. Laker hopes soon sagged, too, after Jordan sank the technical foul shot, and fed Paxson for a jumper on the ensuing inbounds play that gave Chicago a 101-100 lead.

From that point, the Lakers scored on only 1 of their last 8 possessions. Jordan, meanwhile, scored 9 of the Bulls’ last 15 points to put it away.

The Lakers mentioned the illegal defense call in the postgame analysis, but they did not consider it the death sentence.

“I’ve never seen an illegal defense called after a steal,” Worthy said. “But that wasn’t the game. You can’t dwell on it.”

Said Riley: “To have that kind of call at that time is disappointing. But the officials thought they saw it. It was a crucial play.”

Not as crucial, Riley said, as Paxson’s uncontested 3-point shot that whittled the lead and Paxson’s subsequent jump shot that gave Chicago the lead for good.

“It was that 1-minute breakdown that hurt us,” Riley said.

Laker Notes

Laker Coach Pat Riley had said after Sunday’s loss to Washington that he was thinking of redistributing playing time, and he did so Tuesday night. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played only 10 minutes, slightly longer than the pregame farewell-tour ceremony, and had 4 points and 1 rebound. Mychal Thompson played 35 minutes and had 11 points and 9 rebounds. A.C. Green’s playing time was cut slightly, to 24 minutes. In the first half, Riley also used Tony Campbell for 7 minutes and rookie guard David Rivers for 5 minutes. Riley said that he planned to insert Abdul-Jabbar into the lineup for the game’s final 4 minutes, but that the Bulls’ trapping defense made him go with a smaller, quicker lineup. Said Abdul-Jabbar: “Pat has to make those decisions and do what’s best for the team. I have no criticism of what he did. I’ll do whatever’s best for the team.”

WOE ON THE ROADHow the Lakers have fared on the road in December:

Date Opponent Score Dec. 6 at Clippers W, 111-102 Dec. 10 at Indiana W, 112-105 Dec. 11 at Milwaukee L, 95-94 Dec. 13 at Cleveland W, 111-102 Dec. 14 at New Jersey L, 118-113 Dec. 16 at Boston L, 110-96 Dec. 18 at Washington L, 115-110 Dec. 20 at Chicago L, 116-103