Lakers Fall to 11-and-Oh-No

MIAMI — The music stopped playing Tuesday night, and for once there was no chair left for the Lakers. Not even to grab at during the fall that would become a sprawl, making it a hard landing all around.

They did not simply lose for the first time, they lost in the worst way, with a poor fourth quarter, with the very kind of lapse they had worked to eliminate. It was the same kind of beating they had administered to many during the 11-0 record that tied the sixth-best start in NBA history, a 103-86 domination-down-the-stretch by the Miami Heat before 15,200 at Miami Arena, ending the Lakers’ winning streak and the Lakers’ winning strut.

“We’re really upset,” Eddie Jones said. “Every individual on this team is upset that we lost. I’m serious. This team, we don’t think we’re supposed to lose a game, and that’s great. On the same note, tonight we lost a game I thought we should have won, easily.”

Said Coach Del Harris: “Losing is always a difficult process. To a point, the bigger you are the harder you fall, in physics and basketball. On the other hand, it’s better to be 11-1 than something less than that.”

Still, it’s better to be competitive when you do finally go down, as opposed to seeing your own trademarks boomeranging back at your head. The Lakers had won the 11 games by an average of 15.8 points and the last eight by 18.6, and then lost to the Heat by 17. They had won the fourth quarter nine of the 11 times and had claimed three road victories that way, and then got outscored by nine.

Of course, their problems actually started before then, if only by a minute. That the lapse came when they were not only within striking distance, but within easy range of a tie, made the kind of slip they had so far mostly avoided seem more obvious.

And it came at what should have been a good moment, after Kobe Bryant had stolen the ball from Miami’s Jamal Mashburn and was fouled to save an easy basket. Bryant went to the line, 89.4% from there coming in, and missed both.

There went the chance to even the 68-66 game, and the game itself wasn’t far behind. The Heat came down and got a three-point shot from Voshon Lenard with 29 seconds left in the quarter. Bryant (who made seven of 21 shots) missed a jumper at the other end with about eight seconds remaining, but he appeared to have redeemed himself by blocking Terry Mills’ shot from behind on the ensuing possession.

The key word being “appeared.” The ball bounced to Tim Hardaway, who, like a one-timer in hockey, controlled without a dribble and went right up for another three-point shot to beat the clock. When that banked through at the buzzer, Miami was suddenly ahead by eight, 74-66.

“Like Del always preaches, we can’t let up at any point of a game,” Nick Van Exel said. “And we let up.”

Never to get back up.

When Mark Strickland intercepted Derek Fisher’s bad pass early in the fourth quarter and took it in for a dunk, the Heat had an 8-0 rally for a 10-point lead. When Hardaway got warmed up, scoring nine of Miami’s next 12 points, the Lakers had trouble like they’d never seen this season.

“They have a feeling they can always come back,” Harris said. “But I don’t think they just ignored the effects of the final minute of the third. It shook them up.”

Said Rick Fox: “Once it was an eight-point game, Tim did a great job of igniting the crowd and hitting some tough shots. And then he hit a couple more tough shots. He wasn’t going to let them lose.”

He didn’t. Hardaway finished with 22 points--15 in the second half--eight rebounds and seven assists.

“Good teams still find a way to win,” Fox said. “That’s been a mark of this team this year. It wasn’t tonight.”

For a change.

Jones had been such an offensive weapon lately--24.5 points and 56.8% from the field the previous six games--and then had only eight shots through three quarters, the result of him trying to drive and dish and against a Heat defense that clamped down on all that was purple and gold. He finished four of 12 with 11 points, although he also had seven rebounds and six assists.

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LEGEND OF THE FALL

How Lakers fared Tuesday in first loss of season versus their averages during 11-game winning streak:

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STREAK TUES. Points 111.9 86 Points allowed 96 103 FG% 49 39 Opp. FG% 44 45 3-Pt. FG% 35 30 Opp. 3-Pt. FG% 31 47 Turnovers 14.8 15 Opp. turnovers 18.8 14

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