Lakers’ Rally Is a Bit Short : Pro basketball: They come back from 24 points down to tie before losing to Bucks, 103-102, on Roberts’ free throw.

Seconds after the Lakers lost Friday night’s game, Pat Riley briefly lost it. A portrait of frustration, the Laker coach grabbed the media table with both hands and brought his head down on the surface.

As much as that head-butting episode might have hurt Riley, it was mild compared to the collective pain shared by the Lakers after center Mychal Thompson missed a short last-second shot that enabled the Milwaukee Bucks to hold on to a 103-102 victory before 18,633 at the Bradley Center.

Had Thompson put a fraction more arc and a little more follow-through on his turn-around hook from six feet, the Lakers would have completed one of their most impressive comebacks in recent memory. They would have rolled into Detroit for Sunday’s showdown with the Pistons as come-from-behind winners, rather than as losers of three consecutive road games.

But Thompson’s shot clanged off the front of the rim. Laker players, arms raised in anticipation, lowered their heads in defeat. Riley buried his face on the media table. The Bucks, as expected, were jubilant not to lose after leading by 24 points early in the third quarter. They never trailed.

“I thought it would nick the front rim,” Thompson said, “but I also thought it would roll the other way. I was a little off balance, and I knew I had to shoot quick, but I thought I had a good shot.”

For the longest time, it appeared as if the Lakers had no shot even to be competitive. They trailed by 21 points at halftime and clues for second-half improvement were not evident.

But after trailing, 70-47, with 10:25 to play in the third quarter, the Lakers cut away. They caught the Bucks, 102-102, with 1:24 to play on Magic Johnson’s second three-point basket. The teams then traded missed opportunities until the Bucks had the ball with 14 seconds to play.

Fred Roberts, the Bucks’ forward who had missed two free throws with 1:11 to play, was fouled underneath with 1.1 seconds left. Roberts’ first shot was short and bounced out and, sensing Roberts’ increasing anxiety, Riley called time out.

But Roberts, normally a 77% free-throw shooter but only two of seven to that point Friday, swished the second shot.

Riley called time out to set up a play.

“You know they’re going to cover Magic and James (Worthy),” Riley said. “We were just trying to find a pocket and were able to, surprisingly enough. I think it surprised Mychal how much (room) there was.”

Thompson took Michael Cooper’s pass inside the key. He had put himself in front of defender Brad Lohaus, who later said he played behind Thompson to avoid getting beaten on a lob pass.

Ball in hand, Thompson swiveled to his left and released a right-handed push shot. The ball hit the rim as the buzzer sounded, leaving no time for a tip attempt.

“I wasn’t surprised the last shot was open,” said Johnson, who had 18 of his 26 points in the second half. “When we played Denver one time, Danny Schayes had done it to us. It worked to perfection for them, but it didn’t tonight. What can you say?”

Brilliant in planning, perhaps, the final play nonetheless was flawed in execution.

“I thought they would go to the lob or to Magic,” Milwaukee Coach Del Harris said. “We dodged the bullet.”

Several, actually. The Lakers--and Bucks, for that matter--had several chances to win in the final minute. Roberts missed the two free throws with 1:11 to play and the score tied, 102-102. On the Lakers’ next possession,Worthy’s across-the-lane pass sailed through Cooper’s hands for a turnover.

But Worthy stole the ball from Jack Sikma with 43 seconds left, giving the Lakers another chance to lead for the first time. With the shot-clock dwindling, Cooper missed a three-point attempt from the corner with 20 seconds to play. The Bucks secured the rebound and called time out with 14.2 seconds left.

When play resumed, Sikma found Roberts underneath. Roberts, his back to the basket, tried to shovel the ball in but was hammered by Johnson. The foul prevented the basket and, given Roberts’ earlier free-throw problems, it was a wise alternative.

After he missed the first shot, Roberts had plenty of time to contemplate the second free throw.

“I just said, ‘I’m going to make this one,’ ” Roberts said. “I was determined to make the last one.”

As upset as Riley appeared at the finish, he was encouraged by the Lakers’ second-half recovery after playing, in his words, “atrocious” in the first half.

“It took a great effort by our guys to get back into this one,” Riley said. “It shows you have to go on the road ready to play 48 minutes, not 24. But as atrocious as we played, Milwaukee played about as well in the first half as you can. But (the Lakers) showed a lot of heart coming back.”

The Lakers were heartened by memories of their 29-point come-from-behind victory at Seattle in the playoffs last spring. Byron Scott, who partially broke out of his scoring slump with 10 of his 14 points in the second half, said the players talked about that Seattle comeback in the locker room at halftime of Friday’s game.

“We figured we could do it,” Scott said. “We were down before by 29 to Seattle and won. We figured we had to try to cut it to about 12 by the end of the third quarter and we did better than that (trailing by six points). We accomplished everything we had to except winning.”