Closer Doesn’t Cut It

The Lakers stepped back into the torture chamber that is their visit to the Western Conference finals, going from getting bombed on Saturday afternoon to the stiletto on Monday night and finding that a 35-point loss might not have been so bad after all.

This was worse, this 99-95 defeat to the Utah Jazz. They lost control of the ball in the fourth quarter, and lost control of the game. They got frustrated by the referees. They got picked apart--picked-and-rolled apart--defensively.

“This one we felt like we had a chance,” Robert Horry said. “The first one, we didn’t have a chance at all.”

And then there are their chances the rest of the way.

Only seven teams have come back from 0-2 deficits to win a best-of-seven series. The Los Angeles Lakers have done it once in 14 opportunities, against the San Francisco Warriors in the 1969 Western Division final.

Since the NBA switched from two divisions to two conferences in the 1970-71 season, no team has rebounded from a 2-0 deficit in the Western Conference final.

History. As if the Jazz hasn’t proven a difficult enough opponent.

The Lakers didn’t make it easy on themselves Monday, committing 18 turnovers, five more than their playoff average and six in the decisive fourth quarter.

Four of those came in the 3:51 span that turned the game, and maybe the Laker season. Kobe Bryant’s offensive foul trying to set a screen, Horry’s bad pass, Nick Van Exel’s bad pass, Van Exel’s other bad pass--key elements of Utah’s 13-1 rally that turned a 75-72 deficit into an 85-76 lead with 6:24 remaining.

Seven Laker possessions in the fourth quarter of the most important game of the season had resulted in two missed shots, including a virtual blown layup by Bryant, and one made free throw, by Horry with 6:52 left.

Seven Laker possessions, with the chance to take home-court advantage away from the team that survives on it, had resulted in waste.

“We really hurt ourselves in the beginning of the fourth quarter,m” Coach Del Harris said. “We just seemed to rush. We had some nice transition opportunities and instead of cashing in, we kind of hurried and turned the ball over.

“That was the part that did us in.”

Said Van Exel, who committed only two of the 18 turnovers but also missed eight of 12 shots in his 29 minutes: “You’ve definitely got to take care of the ball against a team like this, because they’re going to make you pay.”

The Jazz scored after three of the four miscues in the critical stretch, Karl Malone getting a three-point play after being fouled on a 16-foot jumper and a dunk, part of his game-high 33 points. The slam capped the 13-1 charge.

The Lakers stayed close the rest of the way, as close as 94-93 after Derek Fisher’s free throw with 1:19 remaining. But he missed one that would have tied it, and Utah surged again, getting an 18-footer from Antoine Carr after he had been left alone on the left side off a pick-and-roll, two free throws by Jeff Hornacek with 24.5 seconds to go and one by John Stockton that accounted for the final points with 17.7 showing.

That came as part of a second consecutive impressive showing by Stockton--nine assists against one turnover while scoring nine points in Game 1, 22 points on nine-of-12 shooting with six assists and four turnovers in Game 2--but the Lakers were contending with other constants as well. The third party.

The referees.

Van Exel was furious with Steve Javie when Stockton was not called for pushing off with his forearm on a drive to the basket. Horry and Javie had a brief but heated exchange after Horry had left the game, with Javie, a noted quick trigger, showing some patience by telling Harris to keep Horry quiet. Shaquille O’Neal, following his team-high 31 points that came after a terrible showing Saturday, got in Javie’s face after the final buzzer.

“You know what I was saying,” O’Neal said. “It wasn’t pleasant.”

Added Horry, trying to explain the fourth-quarter problems: “I think it was some outside forces.”

Outside forces?

“I’ve got a daughter,” he said. “I’ve got to keep my money. That’s her college fund if you talk to them.

“It’s just like you keep doing things you know are going to work for you, and people keep taking it away from you. It’s very frustrating. It’s like it keeps happening and you can’t take it any more.”

The Jazz kept happening too, shooting 51.5% after the 53.8% in the opener, shredding Harris’ plan to get people to believe the Lakers are underrated defensively. They made 61.1%--11 of 18--in the fourth quarter with the game on the line.

“I liked it better when we were complaining about Stockton and Malone being physical,” Rick Fox said, “because that’s who we’re playing against.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NBA PLAYOFF BY THE NUMBERS

0: Teams in Western Conference finals history that have come back from 0-2 start in 16 tries.*

*Format started in 1970-71

2: Lakers loses in a row, their first losing streak since March 2

8-1: Utah’s record in playoff series when it has taken a 2-0 lead.

18: Turnovers by Lakers, their most in 11 playoff games this season.

52%: Jazz’s field-goal percentage in first two games. Lakers held Seattle and Portland in the first two rounds to 44%.

21%: Lakers’ three-point shooting in the series (eight for 39) after going four for 16 in Game 2.