Lakers Fall Into Slump, Out of Best Record : Pro basketball: The Cavaliers get the jump on L.A., which loses second game in a row on the road.

They have lost two games in a row, no longer hold the NBA’s best record and are being relentlessly pursued by two streaking Pacific Division adversaries. But, surprisingly, those are not the Lakers’ biggest worries these days.

What concerns the Lakers most, and what prompted a 20-minute meeting after Thursday night’s 112-96 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, is that the genesis of their recent slump remains unknown, a nameless malaise that has lingered for the last week.

“We cannot win on talent alone,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said. “We are not responding and sustaining the kind of effort we need to win. We’re not executing at all. We’re self-willing everything.

“They aren’t selfish or lazy. It’s about sustaining the mental effort it takes to win. We’re just not making the effort.”

The Lakers turned in a woefully uneven effort against the Cavaliers. It came one night after the Lakers fell behind the Philadelphia 76ers early, then failed in a comeback bid. Thursday’s transgressions included 18 turnovers, a bevy of ill-advised shots and a stationary defense.

By way of punishment, the Lakers (47-16) fell a game behind the Detroit Pistons (48-15) for the league’s best record, which determines home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Their Pacific Division lead has dwindled to two games over Portland and three over Phoenix.

Securing the league’s best record, an obsession of Riley’s all season, does not seem so important now. At least, that is what he said afterward.

“That’s not the concern now,” Riley said. “It is about getting this team back on track.” They were derailed swiftly and seemingly without warning, although Riley confided that he could see the pattern developing after the Lakers had to come from behind to beat Atlanta and Charlotte earlier in the trip.

In all four games on this trip, plus two games in Texas last week, the Lakers have fallen behind early. Until the last two nights, they had been able to rally.

Thursday, they sauntered through the first half, trailing by five points at halftime. Then, as if shocked out of their torpor, the Lakers responded with an 11-1 run to open the third quarter. But that six-point lead did not last. The Cavaliers, behind Mark Price (24 points) and Craig Ehlo (23), outscored the Lakers, 25-11, in the final 6:30 of the quarter and held off brief Laker bursts early in the fourth to win easily.

Compounding the Lakers’ problems was the resumption of guard Byron Scott’s left hamstring injury. Scott strained his hamstring late in the third quarter after falling on Price after a layup. He went to the locker room for treatment but later returned to play in the fourth quarter.

The game over, the Lakers returned to the locker room and held a prolonged self-evaluation session, moderated by Riley.

Riley had ample statistical data to throw at the Lakers, reviewing how they fell behind by 13 points against Atlanta and 11 against Charlotte, then also spent much of Wednesday night’s loss to Philadelphia trailing in double figures.

Coaches and players alike are baffled as to what is causing the slow starts and, in Thursday’s case, a slow finish as well.

Riley mentioned a lack of mental discipline, lack of defensive effort, lack of movement offensively and an overall lack of focus. In other words, the Lakers were lacking.

Laker players echoed their coach’s grievances and talked about conducting a personal inventory of their individual and collective problems.

“We should be concerned, but I don’t know why we aren’t playing well,” James Worthy said. “I just know we keep falling behind. Our energy needs to be there for 48 minutes. We can’t be mediocre early.

“We need an aggressive kick-butt, keep-mean attitude. That’s the way we’ve got to be to get back to where we were. Hopefully, it won’t take too long. We don’t have much time to fool around. We have to be strong-willed, with everybody having that same mentality.”

Energy was the buzz word around the Laker locker room afterward.

“I just think we didn’t come ready to play and we got slapped in the face twice,” Orlando Woolridge said. “This will make us take inventory of what’s going on, because we don’t have the answers yet. It’ll take each one of us to look at our individual game, then work on the team game.”

On a more clinical level, the Laker offense has suffered a relapse of the inertia that struck in late December.

The Lakers are moving neither the ball nor themselves in offensive patterns, and they have resorted to individual low-post duals and perimeter shots.

They do not know why they suddenly stopped executing. Magic Johnson, who made only four of 16 shots for 15 points, refused to embrace an excuse such as road fatigue.

“We can’t be individuals; we have to be a team,” Johnson said. “We have to move the ball around. We can’t hold it. It’s a lack of going through all the options and setting picks, doing the little things it takes to win both offensively and defensively.”

The lone Laker optimist was center Mychal Thompson, who said the Lakers worked out their problems in the meeting. But Thompson declined to give details because “Corporations don’t reveal all their secrets and sports teams shouldn’t either.”

But Thompson said the Lakers, who play at Minnesota on Saturday, are too experienced to plunge into a prolonged slump. They have not lost three games in a row this season. In fact, Thursday was only the third time the Lakers had lost two in a row this season.

“I thought we’d go 5-0 on this trip,” Thompson said. “Now we’ve got to salvage the trip at 3-2 in Minnesota on Sunday. Saturday, I mean. Maybe that’s our problem. We don’t know when they schedule the games.”

Laker Notes

Byron Scott felt pain in his left hamstring again Thursday, but Laker trainer Gary Vitti said it was not a serious strain. “He went down like he did in Detroit (in practice before last June’s championship series), but he didn’t feel the pop or the strain like he did before,” said Vitti. “I think it kind of scared him. We brought him back (to the locker room) and got good strength and range of motion out of it, and the doctor cleared him to go back and play.” Vitti termed Scott as probable for Saturday night’s game against Minnesota. . . . A.C. Green led the Lakers with 20 points. James Worthy and Orlando Woolridge added 18 each.