FROM SIZZLE TO FIZZLE

Didn’t you used to be the Lakers?

The artists formerly known as the hottest team in the NBA playoffs have regressed at the worst of times, bringing about the toughest of challenges. They must win four of five against the Utah Jazz and at least one of two at the Delta Center after having been dumped there twice in a row, each time in unceremonious fashion.

The team that shot 51% in the first two rounds is at 37.5% in the early going of the Western Conference finals, with the record-setting 29.5% in the opener before the 45.9% on Monday. The team that averaged only 12.6 turnovers those first nine postseason outings had 18 in Game 2, wasting the recovery from the field.

Robert Horry’s offensive contributions, a significant factor against the Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle

SuperSonics, have disappeared, somewhere behind the curtain of injury, defensive responsibilities, whatever infliction has struck so many teammates, or all of the above. Eddie Jones started to reemerge in the third quarter Monday. Corie Blount is the only reserve offering consistent production, Nick Van Exel managing only five-of-21 shooting with four assists and three turnovers and Kobe Bryant going seven for 24 from the field.

None of which would have been a massive surprise except that it came immediately after the impressive showing against the SuperSonics, the 4-1 victory that followed the 3-1 win over the Trail Blazers in the opening round.

That was those Lakers.

These Lakers returned home from Salt Lake City, getting Tuesday off before practicing the next two days in preparation for Game 3 on Friday night, with their first two-game losing streak since March 1-2. Another defeat, this time at the Great Western Forum, means three consecutive defeats for the first time since the week after the all-star break. That would turn what is now a longshot--winning the series--into a virtual impossibility.

They insist, of course, that they have not come home to die. To find themselves, that could be another matter.

“I still don’t think it’s the team that played against Seattle,” forward Rick Fox said.

Indeed.

* The offense hasn’t properly executed in either game, not counting the self-executions, the shooting, uh, difficulties Saturday afternoon and then the turnovers the next time out. In position to win Game 2 and steal home-court advantage for the second series in a row, the Lakers committed six of their 18 miscues in the fourth quarter, when an early three-point lead quickly swung to a nine-point deficit.

“All of those were in our attempts to kind of force the action,” Coach Del Harris said. “While we like to be aggressive and want to be aggressive, you also have to take care of the basketball, which we’ve been very good at all year. But in that particular situation, it cost us.”

Added guard Derek Fisher: “Those things are going to happen when you have two good teams out there fighting for their life.”

* Jones, a star against the SuperSonics, has been in first-half foul trouble both times. This has hindered his ability to make an offensive impact, though he recovered Monday to score 19 points after intermission. But, perhaps just as critically, it has stopped Harris from putting his best defensive guard on John Stockton.

“That’s been a problem with us,” Harris said.

In Game 2, for example, Stockton scored nine of his 14 second-quarter points after Jones went to the bench with his third foul, helping the Jazz to go from nine down to one point behind at intermission. Come the fourth quarter, Jones was forced to play small forward behind Fox because Harris didn’t want to use Kobe Bryant and Horry was hurt.

* Horry--after averaging 12.2 points and 8.8 rebounds, shooting 62.2% and being called the series MVP by SuperSonic Coach George Karl--is at two of six from the field with 10 rebounds against the Jazz. His problems have been varied: He was a Laker in Game 1, which guaranteed struggles, and he suffered a bruised right hip early in the second quarter of Game 2, forcing him to hobble through the second half.

“I’m in a rhythm,” he said. “I’m just not getting shots. Not that I’m complaining. And with Karl [Malone], I’m having to do different things than against Seattle.”

Said Harris: “Robert has always been a defense-first guy. I don’t think that makes any difference. [Monday] night he got hurt in the first few minutes of the game, and that takes care of that. And in Game 1, he, among others, didn’t have a good game.”

All of which, among others, puts the Lakers at 0-2 against a veteran team that wouldn’t rattle in a 7.5 quake, a team that had them down 0-2 in 1997 and won in five.

“I like our chances at home,” Fox said. “I think there comes a point where whoever was on this team last year can’t be too happy. You’ve got to be [ticked] off. You’ve got to be frustrated and angry, but also anxious to somehow get over that hump. If you get knocked down and keep getting up, you’re going to succeed sooner or later. As long as you keep getting up.”