Lakers Hit Some Sour Notes in Defeat

By TIM KAWAKAMI

Jan. 25, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SALT LAKE CITY —

The Lakers-Jazz opera had two encores Monday night, jammed with enough screeching, murderous looks and fateful decisions to fill 1,001 nights and drain the emotion out of anyone involved.

It was only one game, and one Laker loss, though it felt as if it meandered over several days, and a million mini-dramas, and just kept going. . . .

In the end, after 26 lead changes and uncountable momentum changes, the curtain closed on Utah’s 105-101 double-overtime victory before a sellout-crowd at the Delta Center with the Lakers questioning their shot-selection and end-game IQ, but not their effort.

“We played very hard, have no complaints about that,” said Shaquille O’Neal, who played a career-high 55 minutes, scoring 36 points, but only four in the two overtimes.

“We just need to play smarter down the stretch--line them up and take smarter shots. We can’t always look for the jumper, especially when it’s not going.”

They put up too many quick shots--including two open three-pointers by Robert Horry that missed--in the second overtime.

They got too distracted on defense as the Jazz ground out intricate plays deep into the night.

But the Lakers, who lost their fourth game out of their last six and dropped to 33-9, did not toss this game away, so much as let Karl Malone and John Stockton wrench it from their grasp.

“They played a desperate game,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said of the Jazz, “and came out the winners. . . .

“We played hard, but I don’t think we played as smart as we could tonight.”

Though several Lakers took manic shots in the final minutes of the game--and though several of those shots went in, especially from Kobe Bryant and Glen Rice--the contrast with the Jazz’s careful pace, even to the end, was loud and clear.

Was Jackson happy about the shots the Lakers took in the final overtime?

“No, not happy at all,” Jackson said, before he was asked specifically about Horry’s two long-distance flings--the first coming with the Lakers behind, 95-94 and about 2:30 left, the second with the Lakers trailing, 99-95, with about 40 seconds left.

“I think he had a brain-flap or something went on out there,” Jackson said of Horry. “Just a little mind-flip, something like that.”

Horry, for his part, said that he was open for both shots, and that he wasn’t going to shrink from taking crucial shots at game-deciding moments.

“I missed them, I just missed them,” Horry said. “There wasn’t anybody on me. They were good shots. . . .

“If I’m that wide open. . . . I’m tired of people dropping off of me, so I’m going to take the shot. Most people would’ve been scared to take a shot in that situation, but I ain’t scared. I was going to take it, if I missed it, I missed it.”

Jackson and his players agreed that the ball should have gone into O’Neal much more frequently in the final minutes of regulation and both overtimes.

O’Neal--who had six blocked shots--did not make a field goal from the 5:37 mark in the fourth quarter until there were only six seconds left in the second-overtime.

Meanwhile, Malone dominated the fourth quarter, at one point scoring nine consecutive Jazz points, and scored 31 points, with 13 rebounds.

Stockton came within a rebound of his first career triple-double, scoring 18 points, with 15 assists and nine rebounds.

Also, Greg Ostertag grabbed 14 rebounds, helping the Jazz to a 51-44 rebound advantage.

Was O’Neal frustrated that he didn’t touch the ball much in the late-going?

“Of course I am,” O’Neal said quietly.

Said Derek Fisher: “The first overtime, we knocked some shots down even though they were fast, so I think we got a little comfortable with the fact that the shots were going down.

“I think Kobe knocked a couple shots down and felt that he had it going, took some shots quick. . . . We’ve got no problems with Glen and Kobe shooting the ball, but I think we all understand that everything starts with the big fellah in the middle and allowing us to play off of him.”

This was the Lakers’ third close loss to a Western Conference rival in the last eight days--after earlier tight defeats to Seattle and Portland.

“There are always peaks and valleys throughout an NBA season,” O’Neal said, “and we just have to get back on our peak. And we will.”

Said Bryant, who was nine for 24 from the field, and scored 26 points--18 in the last three quarters: “We played a hard game. We really have nothing to hang our heads about. We have to keep fighting.

“I mean, we can’t be down on ourselves. That’s just nonsense. We have to keep fighting. That’s what we do. . . .

It’s a long season. We’re not playing for right now. We’re playing for championship time.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Now & Then

The difference between the Lakers during their 16-game winning streak and now, when they have lost four of their last six? Try the offense, where scoring is down 10 points a game:

DURING STREAK

Record: 16-0

Scoring avg.: 104.2

Pts. allowed: 91.6

FG%: .489

Opp. FG%: .410

FT%: .700

Opp. FT%: .734

Rebounds: 50.9

Opp. reb.: 43.7

Turnovers: 12.9

SINCE STREAK