Lakers Good While Streak Lasted, but . . . : Pro basketball: They know they have a way to go after Charlotte wins, 124-106. Hornets score 47 points in fourth quarter.

In case anyone is still in doubt, the good times are officially over.

Coach Mike Dunleavy was hoping after wipeouts at Boston and Milwaukee that his team had merely succumbed to two foes with greater depth.

Wednesday night, he saw the Lakers mopped up by the Hornets, a fourth-year expansion team lacking NBA size and depth, not to mention momentum. Losers of five in a row, off to the worst start, the Hornets arose and smote their elders, 124-106.

The Lakers had never lost to the Hornets in eight meetings but went out feet first.

The Hornets scored on their last 21 possessions.

They scored 47 points in the fourth quarter, tying the Lakers’ club record for points scored by an opponent in one quarter.

“We had a good stretch,” James Worthy said of the Lakers’ nine-game winning streak, “but in this league, with this talent, it’s hard to believe you can keep that up a long time.

“We realize what we’re up against. Everybody thought we were immediately going to start losing. Instead, we won.

“That’s pretty much over now. We’ve got to take it one game at a time, one practice at a time.”

That’s how the Lakers talked in early November when they started the burst that grew to 10 victories in 11 games, all without Magic Johnson, the last two without Vlade Divac and virtually without Elden Campbell.

There was little likelihood of sustaining such intensity. The Lakers have lost three of four by scores of 114-91, 126-94 and 124-106, looking less like an inspiration, more like an undermanned club in the dog days of the season’s longest trip.

Wednesday, they encountered the Hornets, with their 4-14 record and their starting unit that had nobody over 6 feet 8, two players over 6-5 and an average height of 6-3.

The Lakers eased into a 46-41 lead the hard way. At that point, late in the second quarter, they were shooting 41% and being outrebounded.

Before you could ask if the Lakers were doing it with mirrors, it came apart on them.

The Hornets hit them with a 12-4 burst to end the half, fought them to even it at the end of the third quarter and put them away in the fourth. Muggsy Bogues, the 5-3 point guard, and rookie Larry Johnson had 11 points apiece in the final quarter. Long-range shooters Dell Curry and Rex Chapman each made two three-pointers.

For the game, Curry was four for four on three-pointers, Chapman two for two, the Hornets seven for eight.

Let’s just say the fans got a kick out of it.

“It feels great, even though they are without Magic,” Hornet Coach Allan Bristow said.

“It still feels good to beat a team, especially one we haven’t beaten before.”

Dunleavy, still conceding as little as possible, blamed it on mental mistakes that kept the Hornets in it until their late-night burst.

Of course, Dunleavy knew there would be nights such as this but doesn’t dwell on it.

“I can’t accept this,” Dunleavy said. “At times, I understand but I can’t accept it as a coach.

“The physical errors I can accept, but the mental ones I can’t. If you accept it, you’re going to lose. If you don’t accept it, you’re going to win. We’ve always been a team that hasn’t accepted it.

“All in all, though, if you told me we’d go on a seven-game trip, be out two weeks and come home 4-3, I’d have been very happy. Now we’ve just got to go to New Jersey and win to go 4-3.”

At least they will have a day off to rest.

At least they will know in advance it won’t be easy, either. They aren’t the old Lakers, or the post-Magic Lakers, anymore.

Laker Notes

The Lakers put Vlade Divac on the injured list, clearing the way for a move to bring in a big man. . . . The Lakers’ first sight of Larry Johnson, the 6-foot-5, 250-pound No. 1 overall pick, was an impressive one. Johnson, showing a soft touch and an all-around game, got off 10 shots, made six, scored 22 points with 10 rebounds, five assists and three blocks.

Said James Worthy: “Obviously he’s a tremendous talent. He’s got to have the potential to be every bit of what Charles Barkley is at that size. He’s got a lot to look forward to.” . . . Mike Dunleavy on Johnson: “He was terrific. He plays extremely hard. He knows how to play the game, you can see that.”