Road Remains Rough; Lakers Lose, 105-102

The Lakers hit the road Sunday, opening a stretch in which 14 of 17 games are away from home.

The road hit back.

At least they got close this time, not like blowout losses at Seattle, Sacramento and Golden State to open the season. But moral was the only kind of victory the Lakers got Sunday night, when Derrick Coleman had 21 points and 19 rebounds and Kenny Anderson had 21 points and 10 assists to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 105-102 victory before 12,205 at Brendan Byrne Arena.

It wasted a 30-point effort by Sedale Threatt, the most by a Laker this season, 21 points and 14 rebounds from Vlade Divac and a rare night of respectable shooting, 48.8%. Most of all, it dropped them to 3-7.

“It is hard to say we are not struggling,” Divac said. “We are struggling. We need that first one.”

The first road victory, that is. Come to think of it, any victory would be nice at this point.

“Every game to me is like a playoff game,” Coach Randy Pfund said. “We need to get some wins.”

The Lakers had their chance in this one. Leading, 84-77, after three quarters, they lost the lead and the momentum when the Nets put together a 10-0 run, with Anderson accounting for six of the points. They went back ahead at 96-95 with 3:17 left.

New Jersey surged again, this time with a 7-2 rally to take a 102-98 advantage with 1:02 to go. Threatt’s jumper made it 102-101.

On the ensuing possession, Anderson missed a jumper, but Doug Christie’s loose-ball foul put New Jersey’s Armon Gilliam at the line. He made both free throws. The lead was back to three with 25 seconds left.

Divac quickly went for the tie, but his open three-pointer from the right side hit the back of the rim. Coleman grabbed the rebound and was fouled intentionally, given the opportunity to put the game away with 13 seconds left. But he missed both free throws.

The Lakers used their last timeout, but the Nets, not waiting to see if they would go for another three, fouled Divac as soon as he got the inbound pass near midcourt. He missed the first attempt and made the second for a two-point cushion with 11 seconds to go.

That became three when Anderson, fouled after almost losing the ball to Christie, made one free throw with nine seconds left. The Lakers had one more try in them, Christie grabbing the rebound of the missed attempt from the line and passing ahead to Nick Van Exel. Van Exel got the ball to Anthony Peeler, who missed a three-pointer with about three seconds left.

Divac got the rebound and threw the ball out to Threatt for a desperation three-pointer. But Threatt needed to go backward to get behind the line and, in his rush, stepped out of bounds in front of the New Jersey bench as the buzzer sounded.

Threatt, after making all nine shots in the first half en route to 18 points, finished 15 of 19 from the field in 34 minutes off the bench.

“After I knocked three or four down, I knew I was in a zone and Randy started running plays for me,” Threatt said. “The shot was just there.”

Laker Notes

The Nets shot 46 free throws, with Derrick Coleman getting 17 of the attempts, compared to 20 for the Lakers. . . . Fallout from Friday’s loss to Chicago: Chick Hearn, who put the game “in the refrigerator” with the Lakers ahead by five points with 24 seconds left, said it was the first time he had jumped the gun and that he is contemplating dropping one of his trademark phrases.