Lakers can’t get the goods

It was interesting for a while, even entertaining, but the Lakers couldn’t stop the Phoenix Suns.

Nor could they prevent themselves from falling to seventh in the Western Conference.

The season that started so well took another detour Sunday, anticipation replaced by reality, slowly but then steadily, as the Lakers fell to Phoenix, 115-107, at Staples Center.

They trailed by one entering the fourth quarter but tailed off rapidly and now trail the Denver Nuggets by half a game for sixth in the West. The Lakers (40-37) and Nuggets (40-36) play tonight in Denver.

Of greater concern is an inability to beat a team with a winning record, which the Lakers haven’t done since defeating Utah on Feb. 26. There have been blowouts (a 108-72 embarrassment against Dallas), close calls (a 107-104 overtime loss to Houston) and Sunday’s example, a little of both.

They got enough from Kobe Bryant (34 points, seven assists) and took a bounce-back effort from Smush Parker (25 points, six assists), but Lamar Odom (10 points) and Luke Walton (seven points) were ineffective, making a combined seven of 22 shots.

If the playoffs started today, the Lakers would play the Suns in the first round.

“It’d be a pretty quick playoffs if that’s the way it’s going to go,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “That’s not going to get the job done in the playoffs.”

Last season, the Lakers took the Suns to seven games before bowing out in the first round. Then again, they had finished with an 11-3 run at the end of last season, momentum firmly tucked under their arms as they began the postseason.

Now they have lost five of their last seven, have beaten one winning team since the All-Star break and don’t exactly have an easy schedule the rest of the way: Denver, the Clippers, Phoenix, Seattle and Sacramento.

“Are they going to quit ... throw in the flag?” Jackson asked rhetorically. “I had some players that I thought got disgruntled, and they let some little things distract them out there today. When you do that, you can’t give a full effort. Those are things you need to play through, and we need to do a better job of that.”

Andrew Bynum struggled again in a starting role -- seven points, seven rebounds and four fouls in a bit less than 23 minutes -- and forward Maurice Evans seemed frustrated at times on the way to a scoreless 18 minutes.

Still, the Lakers trailed by only one, 74-73, after three quarters.

Then Phoenix went on a 19-8 run that began a few minutes into the fourth. The Lakers couldn’t counter. The Suns scored 41 points in the quarter.

“They went from fifth [gear] to sixth pretty quickly,” Bryant said. “Our fifth was our sixth.”

And the Lakers, challenging for fourth in the West seemingly an eternity ago, fell to seventh.

They will have to win their final five games to match last season’s 45-37 regular-season record.

Furthermore, a playoff spot hasn’t been secured, thanks to the Golden State Warriors’ lingering on the fringes in ninth place. (The Lakers own the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Warriors and clinch a playoff spot if they win two of their final five games.)

The Lakers had hoped to return to more of a spread-the-wealth offense before their game Friday in Seattle, but Bryant bailed them out of that one with 46 points, and he made 14 of 25 shots against Phoenix.

He was then asked whether he needed to score the bulk of the points for the Lakers to have a chance at winning.

“It seems like that,” he said. “I’d rather that not be the case, but it seems like that. Hopefully we can kind of break out of that funk and have guys step up and make contributions.”

The Lakers didn’t have much time to ponder the loss, gathering at the airport for a charter flight to Denver. Maybe they’ll rediscover momentum there, although the Nuggets have won five consecutive games.

“Right now, we’re just asking ourselves, ‘When?’ ” Odom said. “Hopefully it happens sooner than later, or we’ll lose in the first round.”

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

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Playoff race

*--* W L GB 1. y-Dallas 63 13 -- 2. y-Phoenix 58 19 5 1/2 3. x-San Antonio 55 21 8 4. y-Utah 48 28 15 5. x-Houston 48 29 15 1/2 6. Denver 40 36 23 7. LAKERS 40 37 23 1/2 8. CLIPPERS 37 38 25 1/2 9. Golden State 37 40 1 10. New Orleans 36 41 2

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