[0] A DOOR OPENS WIDE; LAKERS TRIP WALKING IN : PHOENIX 114, LAKERS 105.

Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer

The things Rick Fox wanted to say were unprintable, the things he could say, insufficient. Disappointment like this takes a dictionary to describe. And Fox found his usual eloquence escaping him.

Long sighs and long stares at his feet delivered the message: The Lakers had blown a golden opportunity, and they knew it.

A months-long chase of the Seattle SuperSonics for Pacific Division supremacy probably ended Friday night as the Lakers dropped a 114-105 decision to the Phoenix Suns at the Forum.

The Sonics had lost to the San Antonio Spurs just before the Lakers and Suns got under way. The Lakers could have moved within a half-game of the division leaders with a victory.

Instead, they yanked themselves right out of the race.

``I'm trying to think if I felt this low before,'' Fox said quietly. ``I can't think of any other games that I felt worse than this. Maybe Utah (two weeks ago).''

A win, and the Lakers would still have had an uphill climb for the Pacific lead, as Seattle holds the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage. But with only five games remaining, the loss meant the chase is virtually over.

``I think we all knew we had to run the table to have a shot,'' Fox said.

Instead, they probably locked themselves into a second-place finish, and a No. 3 ranking in the postseason. No division title, no home-court advantage vs. the Sonics and Jazz.

The Suns' own postseason aspirations were at play Friday, as they are battling the Spurs for the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds in the West, with the winner of that battle hosting the loser in the first round of the playoffs.

Antonio McDyess, grasping the importance of the moment, scored a career-high 37 points to lead the Suns. Phoenix shot 54.4 percent to the Lakers' 40.2 percent and generally out-ran their hosts in a track meet that pitted fast break against fast break.

The Lakers were hurt by poor shooting as much as they were hampered by Shaquille O'Neal's early foul trouble. O'Neal picked up his second and third fouls within a minute in the second quarter, earning him a trip to the bench and a lecture from Harris, who felt O'Neal was drawing unnecessary fouls out of frustration with the officials.

``One of the problems of a young team is that you lose focus at times,'' Harris said. ``We let what we perceived to be bad calls or noncalls take us out of our game.

``He (O'Neal) has to maintain focus,'' he said. ``He let a lack of calls cause him to take two fouls, and then he's out of the game. We've lost three of the last 20 games, and it's no surprise that in each of the three games, Shaq got into foul trouble. That's not a criticism, it's an observation.''

O'Neal checked out with a 45-44 Lakers lead, which became a 56-51 deficit by halftime, all with him on the bench.

O'Neal didn't offer any disagreement with Harris' perspective, instead directing his thoughts toward the officials.

``They did a horrible job tonight,'' O'Neal said. ``You write this to (NBA Commissioner) David Stern - if you're gonna fine me $10,000, tell him to take 20. I don't give a ----. They did an awful job. And all those inconsistent referees are gonna get what's coming to them.''

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PHOTO (Color) The Lakers' Derek Fisher dives for the ball in front of Phoenix's Jason Kidd.

Evan Yee/Daily News