Lakers Are Saving Their Worst for Last

Nothing is over, of course, until the Lakers breathe their last molecule of playoff oxygen and surrender their final break-away slam dunk.

Why write them off when there are so many turnovers left to commit and jump shots to not contest and sideline blow-ups to witness?

This Laker season, quickly turning from urgency to emergency, has so much more left to provide us all.

On Monday, after Houston’s 102-80 manhandling at Compaq Center, after the Lakers absorbed their second consecutive thrashing in the Texas playoff primary, the Laker locker room was as sad and sour as a broken romance.

How do the Lakers, coming off a 27-point humiliation Saturday in San Antonio, feel after losing so thoroughly to a Rocket team they inevitably will face in the first round of the playoffs?

“Like a. . . . bum,” Shaquille O’Neal said wearily, staring at his feet. “Like a bum.”

Well, there’s always next millennium.

The Lakers (27-19) did some prime playoff positioning these last few days, all in a negative direction, with negative results, raising testily negative responses and negative signs of life.

With a chance to jump ahead of the struggling Rockets (who lost a night earlier in Phoenix) and grab the edge in the race for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, the Lakers were overrun by Houston fastbreaks and scorched by wide-open jumpers.

“No defense,” said Derek Harper, when asked to explain what happened. “Just no passion to play the game. Just no fire.

“To come out against the team we’re going to play in in the playoffs and play like that. . . . It’s very, very difficult to explain.”

Said Kobe Bryant, whose left leg is sore, who missed his first 11 shots and ended up scoring nine points on three-of-14 shooting: “Everybody’s a little upset, everybody’s a little ticked off.

“And we have a right to be. We’re getting our butt kicked every day.”

It was Bryant who was involved in the most illustrative sign of Laker frustration.

During a timeout with six minutes left in the game, Rambis loudly told Bryant to start doing what he was supposed to--leave Scottie Pippen on defense and dive at Charles Barkley on the low post.

Bryant sat down and immediately protested, saying he wanted to stay with Pippen because Barkley was hitting open shooters with quick passes.

“Don’t do it! Don’t do it! Don’t do it!” Rambis bellowed, his voice raising above Bryant’s as the other Lakers stared.

After a few seconds of double-barreled action, Rambis threw up his arms in a sarcastic surrender and shouted: “Fine, you’re right! Do whatever you want to do!”

Bryant got up, walked to a different part of the bench, and stayed in the game.

Rambis would not comment on the incident.

“It was a miscommunication. Not even really a miscommunication,” Bryant said, adding that there were no hard feelings between the two. “I felt I had a feel for the game out there as far as how we were going to play Charles.”

Is the frustration overtaking the Lakers’ ability to gather up their spirit, focus on improving the team, and make one last run to the playoffs?

Rambis did not wish to answer that one, either.

“That’s a pretty bold. . . . question you just asked me right there,” Rambis said with a snap. “I’m not going to answer that question. . . .

“Obviously, I’m not happy with our performance. We didn’t play hard, we didn’t get effort. Our defensive intensity wasn’t there. I was disappointed with our effort tonight.”

After watching Pippen maul the Laker offense (six steals) and trigger Houston’s fastbreak (the Rocket outscored the Lakers, 26-4, on transition points), there isn’t much left on which to pin a Laker revival.

“We’re in a funk right now,” said O’Neal, who had a team-high 19 points.

“We’ve got to do some soul-searching and try to get out of it. We’ve got to come to play. We haven’t come to play in about four or five games.”

Then O’Neal trailed off again, and shook his head.

“I’ve been saying the same crap,” he said, “for 40 games.”

The Lakers committed 18 turnovers, which led to a slew of Rocket points, and seemed unable to deal with the Rockets’ traditional, dump-it-into-Barkley or Hakeem Olajuwon offense.

“There’s nothing I can say, nothing Shaq can say, nothing Harp can say,” Bryant said. “All you can do is keep trying. We’re not going to give up. . . . We’ve got to keep going, man.”

LOSING THEIR WAY

LAKERS IN THEIR LAST EIGHT GAMES:

Record: 2-6

Average margin of defeat in 6 losses: 17 points

Average points scored during 8 games: 94

Average points allowed during 8 games: 105

Clippers’ record in last 8 games: 3-5

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WESTERN CONFERENCE RACE

1. Utah: 34-11

2. Portland: 33-11

3. San Antonio: 32-12

4. Houston: 28-17

5. Lakers: 27-19

6. Phoenix: 24-21

7. Minnesota: 22-23

7. Sacramento: 22-23

LAKER REPORT: The veteran players know what the team is lacking: Defense.

NBA ROUNDUP: Spurred by confrontations with Karl Malone, the Suns beat the Jazz, 99-85. Stories, Page 4

SAN ANTONIO 94, CLIPPERS 88

The Spurs’ 33-point lead was cut to one with 3:49 remaining, but Tim Duncan had enough left to turn back the L.A. comeback, led by Eric Piatkowski’s 27 points. Page 4