One Real Swoon Follows Stellar Winning Streak

The Lakers proved they are human, after all. After their 16-game winning streak came to an end with a 111-102 loss to Indiana on Jan. 14, the Lakers proceeded to lose four of their next seven games, including games against Portland and Seattle. It was easily the worst stretch of the season for the team, which lapsed back to its bad habits of previous seasons.

Game of the month: The Jan. 14 loss to Indiana. It was the Lakers’ first loss in 38 days, and it wasn’t pretty. Travis Best scored 12 fourth-quarter points as the Laker bench was outscored, 27-20. The Lakers led, 84-79, with 9:15 remaining before Indiana went on a Best-led 16-2 run to take the lead for good. It started the stretch of bad games for L.A.

Who’s hot: Rice averaged almost 20 points a game in the month and played well when the Laker slide began. He led the team with 23 points in the loss to Indiana, and helped pick up the slack for Bryant, who ran into a shooting slump.

Who’s not: “Power” forward A.C. Green came back to earth with a resounding thud. He seemed to grow old overnight, averaging a little more than three points a game and shooting 35% from the field. He was outplayed by the opponent’s power forward in every game.

Record in month: 9-5.

Quotebook: “That was an embarrassing performance by our basketball team. I was surprised that we didn’t perform better than that on national TV. I was very disappointed. As bad as we played, even if we would have won it would have been embarrassing.” Jackson, after Lakers’ 89-83 loss to Houston on Jan. 30.

Pacific Division standings:

1. Lakers: 34-10, .773

2. Portland: 33-10, .767

3. Sacramento: 27-16, .628

4. Seattle: 28-17, .622

5. Phoenix: 25-18, .581

6. Clippers: 11-32, .256

7. Golden State: 9-32, .220.

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Best record in NBA:

1. Lakers: 34-10, .773

2. Portland: 33-10, .767

3. Indiana: 28-15, .651

4. Utah: 27-15, .643

5. San Antonio: 28-16, .636

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NBA scoring leaders:

1. Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 76ers: 30.7

2. Shaquille O’Neal, Lakers: 27.8

3. Grant Hill, Detroit Pistons: 26.9

4. Karl Malone, Utah Jazz: 25.7

5. Chris Webber, Sacramento Kings: 24.3

GAME BY GAME

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Date Score Leading Scorer Record 4 at Clippers, W, 122-98 O’Neal, 38 26-5 5 Clippers, W, 118-101 O’Neal, 40 27-5 7 Charlotte, W, 87-83 O’Neal, 23 28-5 8 at Seattle, W, 110-100 Bryant, 31 29-5 10 Denver, W, 130-95 O’Neal, 31 30-5 12 at Milwaukee, W, 103-94 O’Neal, 27 31-5 14 at Indiana, L, 111-102 Rice, 23 31-6 15 at Minnesota, W, 104-91 O’Neal, 26 32-6 17 Seattle, L, 82-81 O’Neal, 30 32-7 19 Cleveland, W, 95-86 O’Neal, 27 33-7 22 Portland, L, 95-91 Bryant, 28 33-8 24 at Utah, L, 105-101 (OT) O’Neal, 36 33-9 28 Milwaukee, W, 117-89 O’Neal, 30 34-9 30 at Houston, L, 89-83 O’Neal, 27 34-10

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