ALL-STAR GLOW FADES FAST; NETS' VAN HORN GROUNDS LAKERS : NEW JERSEY 106, LAKERS 95.

Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer

The Lakers spent the early part of the week collecting All-Star accolades, and, on Wednesday, they took an All-Star break. One week too soon.

With four newly anointed All-Stars, the Lakers took the floor against the New Jersey Nets accompanied by a bushel of ever-increasing expectations to live up to.

Pregame introductions were embellished to add the ``All-Star'' label to the descriptions of Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones. Congratulations were delivered several times on the Forum's video scoreboard.

Everyone in the building seemed pretty impressed and self-congratulatory, too. Everyone but the Nets and precocious rookie Keith Van Horn, who drove his rookie-of-the-year aspirations right through the Lakers' All-Star celebration in a 106-95 victory.

Van Horn scored a game-high 30 points, including 14 in the third quarter, as the Lakers lost their second straight.

Worse, injury was piled on top of insult.

Robert Horry checked out of the game with - hold your breath - an abdominal strain, and Nick Van Exel followed in the fourth quarter with a strained left hip flexor. Both starters are listed as day-to-day.

Prior to tipoff, Lakers coach Del Harris made it clear the Lakers had a reputation to back up now that they had become the sixth team in NBA history to place four players on the All-Star team.

``Hopefully, our guys will accept the challenge of the All-Star label,'' Harris said. ``All-Star is a special thing, and when you take on that label it means you're going to strive to be a consistently good player.

``It's `All-Star.' It's not `sometimes-star.' I'm sure these guys will take that label seriously, and we will play All-Star-level performances as consistently as possible.''

That sentiment didn't last long on the floor.

The Nets led 57-41 at halftime, and four minutes into the third quarter, the Lakers trailed by 23 points, 73-50 - a bad omen for a team that has not won a game this season after trailing by more than 16 points.

The Lakers committed 21 turnovers, leading to 18 Nets points. The loss wasted a 27-point, 19-rebound night from O'Neal. Bryant added 26 points. The Nets pulled off the victory without All-Star center Jayson Williams, ejected in the third quarter after getting his second technical foul.

Then came the injuries. Horry left the game early in the third quarter, suffering the same ailment that has already sidelined O'Neal for 21 games this season. Horry reportedly injured himself Monday but didn't mention it to trainer Gary Vitti until halftime Wednesday.

Horry grabbed a defensive rebound to open the third quarter and grimaced mightily as he jogged back up to the offensive end of the floor. He stayed in the game for nine minutes, then left for the locker room.

He did not return, finishing the night with seven points and seven rebounds in 22 minutes.

In Saturday's loss to the Seattle SuperSonics, the Lakers lost by shooting less than 60 percent from the free-throw line and hitting just three of 24 3-point attempts. Those ills did not subside during the three-day break. They shot 63.6 percent from the line and were 2 of 13 from the arc.

Harris expressed confidence that the team's free-throw woes would be temporary. He increased time allotted to free-throw practice this week, though he said the emphasis on foul shooting has been consistent since the Lakers' last free-throw slump, in mid-December.

``The guys are now really concentrating on it, on their own, and that's what counts,'' he said. ``So there's a notable change in attitude and approach (among) the guys, and their free-throw practice habits than there was about a month ago.''

Two-peat for Jones: Eddie Jones made it clear during training camp he didn't want to be a basketball's ``Flock of Seagulls.'' He didn't want to be remembered as a one-hit wonder.

That meant returning to the All-Star Game to show last season was no aberration. He got his wish this week. And though he was more excited about teammate Nick Van Exel's first election to the game, Jones was happy to be an All-Star once more.

``I think it shows you I've been consistent in the things that I do, and I'm being rewarded for being consistent. I want to continue to be consistent.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO (Color) New Jersey's Chris Gatling has the ball knocked away by the Lakers' Elden Campbell during the Nets' win at the Forum. Nets rookie Keith Van Horn had a game-high 30 points.

Associated Press