Webber Helps Bullets Steal It From Lakers : Pro basketball: He scores career-high 37 and makes big play against Van Exel in 122-114 victory.

The Lakers made it easier on themselves Friday night. They got drilled in the fourth quarter without blowing a double-digit lead in the process, thus saving additional frustration. It’s the little things.

The cushion was only eight with 10 1/2 minutes remaining at USAir Arena before things went south. The Washington Bullets used a 21-4 charge over 6:20 of the final period to win, 122-114, behind a career-high 37 points, along with 10 rebounds and a key late steal, from Chris Webber.

Webber accounted for 11 of the 21 points, Robert Pack for six, including when he didn’t draw iron on a straight-away jumper, got his own rebound without much fight from the Lakers and put it back in. Webber also got two of his baskets in the run on tip-ins, all part of the Bullets’ 16-3 advantage in rebounding in the fourth quarter.

When the Lakers weren’t failing to get rebounds, they were struggling with transition defense. When they weren’t laboring to get back, they were missing four shots from closer than the free throw line.

“We just seem to do whatever it takes,” Coach Del Harris said.

Too often, they do it, or don’t do it, in the fourth quarter. Then comes the fall, such as at Phoenix, or, as if any more proof was needed that this team continues to struggle down the stretch, 48 hours earlier at Detroit, when a 16-point lead with 9:47 left was reduced to one before it held on.

So Friday was simply another in the line. The defense surrenders points on 11 consecutive possessions. Only one player, Elden Campbell, scores for a stretch of about 5 1/2 minutes, until 3:35 remains.

“We just don’t play a very smart game in the fourth quarter,” Harris said. “We’re pretty good at getting ourselves into the fourth quarter, but then we have a tendency to use poor judgment, really poor judgment in terms of ball movement and player movement. We kind of stand around. We also foul. We just start hacking away.”

Added Nick Van Exel, asked why the Lakers have so many problems at the wrong time: “I have no idea. You can see it. But I don’t know what it is.”

This time, it left them down by 11, 108-97, with 3:56 to go. When Van Exel, who followed up his 30 points at Detroit with 25 points (five of seven on three-point shots) and nine assists, found Cedric Ceballos (33 points) inside twice in a row, the Lakers trailed by only seven with 2:42 left.

It was a six-point game when they got the ball with 1:20 remaining. Not only that, Campbell had point guard Pack, nine inches shorter, posted up, with Webber guarding Van Exel on a defensive switch.

“With Van Exel out there, dribbling and hopping around, it’s kind of eerie,” Webber said. “You know one of those hops is going to be the extension of a move.”

Before he could deliver to Campbell, Van Exel, at the top of the key, used a cross-over dribble to go from his left to right side. One problem. Webber’s long reach.

A 6-foot-10 power forward moving quicker than a point guard, Webber stole the ball cleanly and went for an uncontested dunk. The key moment sealed the victory for the Bullets, giving them an eight-point lead with a minute to play and putting them in position to reach .500 after 20 games for the first time in about six years.

Said Van Exel: “He got me.”

There was more bad news for the Lakers, now losers of nine of 12 on the road. Vlade Divac managed only 24 minutes, a disappointing showing for the center bothered by a sore knee.

Four games after the knee sidelined him for the Dec. 8 meeting with Toronto at the Forum, Divac had more of the same problems, raising the possibility he may need to sit out again in hopes of shaking the pain.

“Absolutely,” Harris said. “Regardless of the pressure we feel to win every game, somebody has got to be strong enough to risk criticism for the long-term good. If that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes.”

That may be what it takes.

“I never thought I’d feel like this,” Divac said. “I’m like an old man. When I wake up in the morning, I feel the clicking.”