Defense Suffers Once Again

A winning streak ended at three games Sunday and so did the Lakers’ impressive defensive strides, both victims of the 101-89 loss to the New York Knicks.

To be more specific, both ended in the final quarter when the Knicks shot 46.2% and scored 33 points to turn a three-point deficit at the start of the quarter into a victory.

“I thought we reverted a little bit to some of our old defensive habits,” Coach Del Harris said of the finish.

It was a departure from the ones that had held the previous five opponents to an average of 89.8 points and 39.2% shooting. In the end, the 101 points by the Knicks was the most the Lakers had given up after five consecutive games in the 80s and 90s, and the 45.1% was the highest success rate since the opener of the trip a week earlier in Orlando.

“They have a lot of great shooters,” Laker guard Derek Fisher said of the Knicks. “It’s always going to be hard to contain Allan [Houston] and John [Starks]. And then Charlie [Ward] really hurt us. But we just did not play good offensive basketball in the fourth quarter, and I think that broke our defense down.”

*

Robert Horry continued his improved rebounding work, getting 12 Sunday, three more than any other player and five more than any other Laker. In his seven appearances of at least 20 minutes since the All-Star break--discounting three others greatly influenced by the battle against a vein problem--he is averaging 8.9 rebounds.

Tonight at Washington

* 4 p.m.

* Channel 9

(delayed 6)

Site--MCI Center.

Radio--KLAC (570).

Records--Lakers 39-17, Wizards 29-29.

Record vs. Wizards (1996-97)--2-0.

Update--The season-long six-game trip ends, finally, with the Lakers having gone 3-2 so far. The Wizards are 17-7 in their new downtown arena after starting the season 0-5 in suburban Landover, Md. But they are also coming off probably the worst showing in any venue, a 103-77 loss to the Mavericks on Friday. Juwan Howard has missed the last nine games because of a sprained ankle.