Lakers Sink to New Low

A hunched-over Rick Fox sat at his locker late Friday night.

“Trying to think if I’ve ever felt this low before,” he said after the Phoenix Suns’ 114-105 victory over the Lakers.

This low this season, he meant. Because that’s low enough, at least for immediate consideration. But save a spot on the top-10 career list.

“Nah,” Fox concluded after a pause. “I can’t think of any other games when I felt worse than this.”

Maybe because no loss had presented so many opportunities for the Lakers--a loss by Seattle earlier in the night, a big early lead of their own--and ended with so many things going wrong. Missing an opportunity to gain ground on the SuperSonics, getting so blatantly outrun on their home court, having Antonio McDyess score a career-high 37 points at their expense--all part of the wasted night before 17,505 at the Great Western Forum.

That low.

“This was the third or fourth time Seattle has lost and we knew it and we went ahead and lost,” Coach Del Harris said after the Lakers’ six-game winning streak and 10-game home run had also ended. “It has not been a stimulus. These are maturity factors. We have to grow up quickly.”

The aging process will almost certainly have to be for the playoffs, given that chances of catching the SuperSonics are now relegated to some mathematical improbabilities. Seattle, up in the Pacific Division by 1 1/2 games in the standings but 2 1/2 in reality because it also has the tiebreaker, finishes with games against Houston, Vancouver, San Antonio and at Portland. The Lakers finish with a three-game trip to Golden State, San Antonio and Dallas before coming home to face the Mavericks again, and Utah.

If they’re not finished already.

The SuperSonics’ loss to the Spurs at San Antonio was announced on the public-address system minutes before tip-off, so everyone was aware of the stakes, beyond the Lakers and Suns looking to extend six-game winning streaks.

Inspired by that news or not, the Lakers jumped to an 11-point lead 6:31 into the game, as if they were going to get an opening in the Pacific Division and kick the door in.

But the Suns cut the deficit to three by the final seconds of the first quarter. And when the Lakers made the cushion 10 again, at 40-30 with 7:15 to play in the second, Phoenix answered with even greater certainty, this time not merely recovering but taking charge.

Locked in their own playoff battle, with the Spurs for home-court advantage in their already determined first-round matchup, the Suns went ahead, 46-45, with 3:34 to play in the first half and led by as many as seven before halftime.

This was all on top of the bad news the Lakers had already gotten. The strained Achilles’ tendon that had sidelined Robert Horry for the third time in the last four games, and had knocked him out early in the other, would also sideline him for tonight’s game at Golden State.

Tests Friday confirmed that he was not suffering anything more serious and that Horry was showing improvement. But his recovery will have to continue for a couple more days before he is cleared for a workout Monday in San Antonio, probably a light practice at best since the Lakers will be coming off a back-to-back.

Clearly, this was no way to run a playoff drive.

“It’s different than last year,” Harris said, recalling the memories of trying to work both Shaquille O’Neal and the recently acquired Horry back in the lineup as the final regular-season games ticked off. “Last year we had injuries at the end, but guys like Robert and Shaq had not even gotten the chance to play together [much].

“It could be worse. And in any event, it’s better than last year. We can be thankful for what we have.”

Foremost in this case being Mario Bennett, who again started in place of Horry at power forward and again had an impressive showing, getting his third double-double in four games, scoring 18 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.