Lakers Lose a Game, but Add a Player : Pro basketball: Pfund not happy with 114-102 defeat to Cavaliers, but he’s glad to have Christie on board.

After he examined the final stat sheet and saw the Cleveland Cavaliers had been given 33 free-throw opportunities to the Lakers’ 12, Laker Coach Randy Pfund began to reanalyze what went wrong in his team’s 114-102 loss Friday night before 16,054 at the Forum.

His first assessment was probably more accurate.

“We played hard, we had a couple of little letdowns,” Pfund said. “Other than that, it was a typical NBA game.

“Probably the most significant thing that happened tonight is we signed a young player who’s going to help us down the road,” he added, referring to the signing of Doug Christie, who was to practice with the team for the first time today.

“We want to give him time to get in shape, to practice and to travel with us. He may not be ready in two weeks. If he comes along like I think, I can see him playing some backup minutes at three (small forward) and point guard. We have a lot of depth at off-guard, so I suspect those are two places he can help.

“If, in the process, we find his best position is two (shooting guard), we’ll have to take another look. We’ve got kind of a logjam there with Byron (Scott) and Anthony (Peeler).”

Scott had 16 points Friday and Peeler, still off-stride after a bout with tendinitis in his left wrist, had six. James Worthy led the Lakers with 23 points but scored only eight during the second half.

No Laker scored more than five in the fourth quarter, when the Cavaliers broke open a close game by making three three-pointers on three successive possessions in less than two minutes.

Craig Ehlo made two of those three-pointers and Terrell Brandon made the third to turn a 93-90 Cleveland lead into a 102-90 mountain and send the fans scurrying home with 2:34 to play. Until that stretch, neither team had led by more than six points.

“It was a very good game all the way through, then they had that spurt,” said A.C. Green, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds. “We had a hard time handling that. It was a solid effort overall, but those are the sort of close games you have to be able to pull out against teams such as Cleveland.”

By pulling out the victory, the Cavaliers (36-19) extended their winning streak to six and moved within 1 1/2 games of Chicago in the Central Division.

“I don’t think we should be concerned about catching Chicago,” Cavalier Coach Lenny Wilkens said after his team’s 11th victory in 12 games. “If we do, fine. We’ve got to take care of our schedule. The main thing for us is to continue to play well.”

Benoit Benjamin, acquired from Seattle on Monday with Christie’s rights, sat out his second consecutive game. Pfund said he might not play Benjamin “for another week or so. He understands and I think that’s best for him.”

Laker Notes

Doug Christie’s signing gave the Lakers two rookie first-round draft picks on their roster--Anthony Peeler is the other--for the first time since 1979-80, when they had Magic Johnson and Brad Holland. . . . Vlade Divac, the center of trade rumors until Thursday’s deadline, acknowledged he was nervous until the deadline passed. “I feel better now,” he said. “Now I have to tell the movers to bring the furniture back.” . . . Benoit Benjamin drew a mixed reaction from the Forum crowd when he was introduced before his first home game as a Laker. “I wanted to be prepared for the worst,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t going to get cheers. I’m just being patient. I’m quite sure I’ll have my chance sooner or later.” . . . Sedale Threatt had 12 assists, eight during the first quarter, tying James Worthy for the Laker high this season.