Spell Loss With Capital L

Did you have this upset in your brackets? Did anybody?

OK, this wasn’t a conference tournament, a sub-regional or even a sub-sub- regional, but it was still a perfect and perfectly beguiling March moment.

The top-seeded and recently invulnerable Lakers tried and failed to take one more simple step toward history Thursday against the lowly, low-seeded Washington Wizards.

This was supposed to be the gimme on this five-game trip, and instead, it turned into, well, madness.

A nightmare Laker first half led to a tough scrum in the second and set up a shocking, 109-102 Washington victory before 20,674 at the MCI Center.

That torched the Lakers’ 19-game winning streak, the third-longest in league history.

For 41 days, this was a Laker team with both the streak, and the sizzle.

“It had sort of taken on a life of its own there, some point after 16,” Laker forward Rick Fox said of the Lakers’ streak, which began Feb. 4 at Staples Center against Utah.

“You know, 20 would’ve been a magical number in itself. . . . It’s disappointing. [But] the focus of winning a championship kind of overshadows any focus in here on the streaks.”

Anyway, thanks to Mitch Richmond’s stalwart defense and gutsy shooting (32 points and harassing Kobe Bryant to his least productive game of the sea-son), and a mix of Rod Strickland, Tracy Murray and, ahem, Don Reid and Jahidi White, it is over.

The Lakers, whose NBA-best record fell to 53-12, don’t have much time to grieve.

They play at Detroit tonight, and, with the memories of the 3-6 slide that followed their earlier 16-game winning streak, no desire to repeat the downturn.

“It was a fun ride, we’re a part of history,” said Shaquille O’Neal, who, despite foul trouble, scored 40 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

“We just have to start all over, get back on track.”

After pointing out that even after spotting the Wizards a 21-point lead (62-41) the Lakers had many chances to pull it out in the end, Laker Coach Phil Jackson sounded an it’s-over-let’s-move-on theme.

“It was a good run for us,” Jackson said.

“As I told the players, you have to have a lot of luck to make these kinds of things happen for you. Especially on the road when you don’t know what kind of calls you’re going to get in games like this and guys are suddenly in foul trouble.”

And, with games at New York on Sunday and Miami on Monday to finish the trip, Jackson found a positive focus for the ending of the streak.

“I told these guys that as far as I was concerned, it was better it happened against this team,” Jackson said, “because I want to win these games this weekend.”

Said Bryant, who fouled out and scored a season-low seven points and made only two of his 10 shot tries:

“Better that it came against the Wizards than against a team like New York or Miami or something like that. Because you don’t want to give those guys any confidence.”

On Thursday, the Wizards didn’t need any help--they came out blazing and fastbreaking and beating the Lakers up and down the floor, led by Strickland, who finished with 16 assists.

With the Lakers chipping in a handful of turnovers, Washington raced to a 36-20 lead at the end of the first quarter.

By midway through the second quarter, with Murray lofting in shots from all over the floor, the lead was 21, and the Lakers were in a daze.

“They made shots out the wazoo,” Bryant said. “They made some tough shots, man.”

The Lakers knew they would eventually cool down, which the Wizards did in the third quarter, and the Lakers made a run back into it, eventually tying the score, 85-85, on a three-pointer by Glen Rice with 7:54 left in the fourth quarter.

The momentum, however, ended there. Richmond banged in back-to-back three-pointers to answer, and then, later, finished off the Lakers with two tough jumpers in the last minutes.

Washington made 38 of its 76 field-goal tries, becoming only the second team to shoot 50% or better against the Lakers this season.

Said O’Neal: “You know, they got a win tonight, but they didn’t really beat us. . . .

“We just made a couple mistakes, a couple turnovers, a couple of questionable calls and they got this one tonight.”

So what now for the Lakers? With some tough games ahead, surely tougher than this one was supposed to be, are they in for a potential post-streak skid?

“We have learned from how things went in the past,” said Rice, who had his best game in weeks, scoring 22. “‘I just don’t see that happening again.

“I think we’ll go on another run and we’ll just see how that lasts.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE STREAK

Score and opponent’s field-goal percentage in each game. Washington, which shot .500 from the field, ended Lakers’ 19-game winning streak with 109-102 victory:

*--*

Opponent Score (Pct.) 1. Utah 113-67 (.296) 2. Denver 106-98 (.419) 3. Minnesota 114-81 (.341) 4. at Chicago 88-76 (.377) 5. at Charlotte 92-85 (.416) 6. at Orlando 107-99, OT (.454) 7. at Phila. 87-84 (.388) 8. at New Jersey 97-89 (.436) 9. at Cleveland 116-98 (.468) 10. Boston 109-96 (.416) 11. Houston 101-85 (.358) 12. at Portland 90-87 (.404) 13. Vancouver 103-91 (.447) 14. Indiana 107-92 (.395) 15. Miami 93-80 (.417) 16. Clippers 123-103 (.409) 17. at Golden St. 109-92 (.427) 18. Sacramento 109-106 (.482) 19. at Denver 118-108 (.443)

*--*

THIS SEASON’S LAKER STREAKS

19 Feb. 4-March 13

16 Dec. 11-Jan. 12

7 Nov. 24-Dec. 7

BEST NBA STREAKS

33--LAKERS

Nov. 5, 1971-Jan. 7, 1972

20--WASHINGTON (2 seasons)

March 13-Dec. 4, 1948

20--MILWAUKEE

Feb. 6-March 8, 1971