Lakers Are No Longer Home Free : Forum Streak Ends at 17 as New York Wins, 122-117

Pretensions of perfection at the Forum, which seemed a reasonable enough goal for the Lakers until now, went down in a hail of turnovers, failed shot attempts and defensive lapses in the final frenzied minutes Tuesday night.

Moments after Magic Johnson’s final, futile 3-point attempt clanged off the back of the rim, the New York Knicks, those long-distance specialists from the East, ended the Lakers’ 17-game home winning streak with a 122-117 victory before a sellout crowd of 17,505.

There was a certain symmetry, it seemed, to this one. In November, the Lakers handed the Knicks what has turned out to be their only home loss. Now, the Lakers also are no longer invincible at home.

“Now, their only loss at home is to us, and our only loss at home is to them,” said Johnson, who recorded his ninth triple-double of the season with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.

Knick players talked of revenge after the Lakers beat them at Madison Square Garden. And after becoming the first team to beat the Lakers at home this season, the Atlantic Division leaders said it might prove important in the spring.

“We proved we could stay with them on their home court,” said Knick forward Gerald Wilkins, who scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and had an important steal in the final minute.

“That could mean a lot should we face them somewhere down the line in the playoffs.”

To that, Johnson shrugged and said the Knicks are capable of being in such a playoff position. But Johnson also has heard such motivational talk from many opponents.

“Everybody’s after you,” Johnson said. “It goes with the territory.”

It took a little more than 44 minutes, but the Knicks finally invaded the Lakers’ inner sanctum and took a 114-113 lead on Patrick Ewing’s 2 free throws.

The teams exchanged baskets for the next few possessions before Laker turnovers and missed shots were converted by the Knicks.

With the Knicks holding a 116-115 lead and the Lakers in possession, guard Byron Scott passed where no Laker was near the ball, Mychal Thompson leaving the area for a backdoor cut to the basket.

The Knicks took full advantage. Mark Jackson made 2 free throws, giving New York a 118-115 lead. But after Johnson’s inside basket brought the Lakers within 1 again, Wilkins continued his fourth-quarter assault.

With the ball at the top of the key, Wilkins faked Scott to the left, then drove right for an easy layup. The basket put the Knicks ahead, 120-117, with 2:07 to play. The score remained that way until there were 4 seconds left, when Charles Oakley made 2 free throws. In the more than 2 minutes between, the Lakers looked like the inexperienced team and the Knicks the reliable veterans. After handling New York’s trapping defense most of the game, getting easy layups after breaking the press, the Lakers broke down when it mattered most.

The Lakers had the ball with 54 seconds left, when Coach Pat Riley called a timeout. When play resumed, the Lakers isolated Johnson, with the ball, and James Worthy was posting low with Wilkins draped all over him. Johnson passed once to Worthy, who quickly returned it. But when Johnson tried to repeat the sequence, Wilkins had slipped around Worthy and intercepted the ball.

It turned out that the Lakers would get another chance to tie, after the Knicks’ Trent Tucker missed an outside shot with 28 seconds remaining. But Johnson missed a 3-point shot, the rebound deflecting off 2 Knick players and out of bounds. It was Laker ball with 17 seconds to play.

Instead of trying for a 3-pointer, the Lakers this time went inside to Thompson, who missed an uncontested shot. The ball was batted out to Johnson, standing alone just beyond the 3-point line.

But Johnson’s shot was long, and Worthy fouled Oakley while going for the rebound. Oakley made both free throws to close out the Knicks’ win.

The Lakers lost despite shooting 54.5% (to the Knicks’ 53.3%), outrebounding the Knicks, 39-35, and outplaying them for most of the game.

But the Lakers’ downfall came at the end, when they simply could not handle the Knicks’ pressure. New York Coach Rick Pitino said the Knicks wore out the Lakers, but Riley said fatigue was not a factor.

“We made too many mental mistakes down the stretch,” said Riley, whose team also got 26 points from Worthy and 21 from A.C. Green. “We made 2 or 3 turnovers in the last 2 minutes, and you can’t expect to win when you do that.

“We were ahead 80% of the time, but we made some defensive mistakes, and Gerald Wilkins got off on us. Byron threw one away, and James and Buck (Johnson) couldn’t get together on that pass in the post.

“I don’t think it was fatigue. I think we played well enough to win most of the time. But unless you do it all the time, you can’t beat a team like the Knicks.”

Said Pitino: “The Lakers played as well or better against our press than any team has all season. I told our players at the half that fatigue would be the key factor in the second half, and the team that had the best legs would win.

“We knew they gave everything in the first half, and we knew our best was yet to come.”

Ewing scored 25 points, and Oakley got 23 points and 11 rebounds.

The Knicks weren’t too bad in the first half, either. They never led, but that did not mean they played poorly.

Every time the Knicks threatened, the Lakers responded with surges that enabled them to take a 69-63 halftime lead.

The Lakers’ biggest first-half lead was 10 points late in the first quarter, when Thompson completed a fast break with a dunk. Thompson hung onto the rim for a moment before crashing to the floor. His feet out in front of him, Thompson landed squarely on his back and remained there until play could be stopped.

He stayed in the lineup, and the Lakers held the lead, although the Knicks cut it to 4 by the end of the quarter, mainly on long-range shooting. New York outscored the Lakers, 10-4, in the final 2 minutes of the period, led by Jackson with 2 3-point shots.

The Knicks pulled within a point of the Lakers five times midway through the second quarter. But each time the Knicks threatened, the Lakers responded, Green and Worthy leading the offense.

Perhaps the Knicks’ best chance gone awry came after Green made only 1 free throw to give the Lakers a 57-55 lead with 3:40 to play in the first half. But Jackson missed an open jumper, and then the Knicks were called for their second illegal defense violation in the half, resulting in a technical foul.

Johnson made the technical, then Thompson rebounded a missed shot and scored inside for a 60-55 Laker lead. Oakley, arguing that a foul should have been called, was given a technical foul. Johnson then made another technical for a 6-point Laker lead.

After a Knick turnover, Johnson scored on a fast-break layup to increase the lead to 8.

But with a team saturated with 3-point shooters and strong inside players such as Ewing and Oakley, the Knicks could not be counted out, even after the Lakers extended the lead to 99-91 entering the fourth quarter.

“We should have played better down the stretch,” Johnson said. “It was mental mistakes. They did a great job. They have the best trap in the league. And in the fourth quarter, we just didn’t attack it.”

So, the Lakers’ quest for a 41-0 record at the Forum ended in home game number 18. Perhaps it had just been wishful thinking all along, because they didn’t seem crushed to see it end.

“This one’s history,” Riley said. “I don’t want to dismiss it, but it’s over.”