Unhappy Days for Lakers : Pro basketball: They lose to Warriors, 126-124, and extend skid to seven--matching franchise record set in 1958.

The year was 1958. Eisenhower was President. The Lakers were in Minneapolis. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was in sixth grade. Magic Johnson wasn’t born.

The Lakers lost seven games in a row, a feat unmatched in franchise history until Saturday night, when their West Coast heirs lost a shootout with the Golden State Warriors, 126-124.

The Lakers, 2-9 this month, fell into a tie for fifth-place with Seattle, a game ahead of the Clippers.

They lost a 13-point first-period lead, then wiped out all but two points of the Warriors’ 11-point fourth-quarter lead.

The Lakers had four shots to tie in the final 20 seconds: James Worthy’s driving 10-footer and rebound shot; Sedale Threatt’s 20-footer with eight seconds to play, and Terry Teagle’s 15-footer from the baseline with two seconds remaining.

The victory was the 700th of Warrior Coach Don Nelson’s career. He saw four minutes of it live, having been ejected during the first period after two technical fouls.

Laker Coach Mike Dunleavy saw it all. He thought at least it looked better than defeats No. 2, 3, 4, and 5 in this string.

“If we play this hard, with the intensity, we’re going to win a lot of games,” Dunleavy said. “We lost to one of the best teams in the league. We’ve just got to keep in mind who we lost to and how we lost.

“I can handle a loss like this. They hit some big shots with people in their faces. We missed some wide-open shots.”

The Lakers’ 124 points were their high of the season.

The Warriors average 119. This was their seventh victory in a row; they also won the season series, 3-2, for the first time since 1975-76.

The night started with the first piece of good news of the Laker week: Sam Perkins was back.

More or less.

“It’s not 100%,” he said before the game of his recovery from an injury, “but it’s not going to happen overnight. Sitting out isn’t going to help.”

The game was less than four minutes old when Nelson, who had been carrying on a running dialogue with referee Paul Mihalak, said one word too many and was assessed a technical.

Nelson commented further--and Mihalak ejected him.

The Warriors proceeded to kick the ball around the Forum, turning it over 10 times during the first period. During one stretch of four possessions, they turned it over three times before crossing half court. Midway through the quarter, they found themselves trailing, 21-8.

Ever resourceful, often running after made Laker shots, they managed to get out of the period with only a 33-28 deficit.

Then the teams kicked it into overdrive.

The Lakers shot 58% in the second quarter; the Warriors 63%.

During one stretch, the teams scored on 15 consecutive possessions.

Hottest of all was Terry Teagle, the former Warrior. He scored 14 points during the quarter, and the Lakers led at halftime, 73-65.

The Lakers led by 81-69 early in the third period when the wheels came off.

Chris Mullin, who had sat out Friday’s victory over the Phoenix Suns because of back spasms, scored 14 points during the remainder of the quarter in a 37-18 Warrior run. Tim Hardaway finished it off, making consecutive three-pointers, the second a fadeaway over Threatt.

The Warriors were supposed to be tired, having played the night before at Oakland and flown here Saturday morning. But they took a 119-109 lead early in the fourth quarter and held on.

“What it came down to, they have two of the premier outside shooters in the league,” Dunleavy said. “They were burying shots with people on them.”

So ended the Laker schedule crunch: seven games in nine days, all losses. They have three days off before playing the Knicks here Wednesday.