CALL IT `SCREAM 2'; LAKERS COACH BOILS OVER AGAIN IN UTAH : UTAH 106 LAKERS 91.

Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer

Lakers coach Del Harris is making a habit of ranting, raving outbursts at the Delta Center.

In November, he puncuated a victory over the Utah Jazz with some fist-pounding and a few screams of joy as Kobe Bryant redeemed his previous Utah follies by hitting the clinching shots of the game.

Fast forward to Saturday night. Harris is screaming again late in the fourth quarter. But these were screams of outrage.

Of frustration.

Of an opportunity lost.

Harris watched his team's hopes for a No. 1 playoff seeding wither Saturday as the Western Conference-leading Jazz crushed the Lakers 106-91 before a euphoric Delta Center crowd.

With only 12 games to go, the Jazz shoved the Lakers to three games back in the conference seedings race and 2-1/2 behind second-ranked Seattle.

The loss was painful enough. But then Utah center Greg Foster drained the Salt Lake on the Lakers' wounds. Foster hit a running slam dunk with 4:15 left to make it a 15-point game, then thumped his chest and turned toward the Laker bench to give the universal sign for throat-slitting.

Harris exploded, chased referee Joe DeRosa halfway down the court and demanded a technical foul. DeRosa obliged - assessing Harris, not Foster. And the seeds of bad blood between two rivals are sown anew.

``He has not got the right to taunt anybody. Wait until he actually does something in this league,'' Harris said. ``He's lucky that he's just able to stick with a team for a change.''

Not that a taunting foul was going to help the Lakers much at that point, down 96-81 and entirely unable to stop the Jazz from scoring.

``The rules are clear cut, and you never know. Every little point counts,'' Harris said.

The Lakers couldn't argue much with the outcome, clearly outplayed by the Jazz's veteran triumvirate - Karl Malone (31 points), John Stockton (13 points, nine assists) and Jeff Hornacek (11 points). But it is Foster, the unpolished journeyman from UCLA who the Jazz tried to trade away but got stuck with, who earned their ire.

His sign language won't soon be forgotten, certainly not with the teams meeting again in three weeks at the Forum, on the final day of the season.

``He's a fake, f-a-k-e. He's a punk-ass fake,'' Shaquille O'Neal said. ``Certain guys get on certain teams with great players and they think they're great. Foster is a bump, he's just hiding behind Hornacek and Stockton.''

``It's easy to talk (stuff) when you're up,'' Robert Horry said.

Payback could be in order.

``Maybe it will, maybe it won't. I won't say,'' Horry said.

The Lakers missed a chance to win the season series with Utah, falling to 2-1 against the defending Western Conference champions, but have one more chance to do so in case they need the edge for home-court advantage later in the playoffs.

There was little similarity between the Lakers' two earlier wins this season - including a rare victory in Utah - and Saturday's game. The obvious difference was Stockton, who missed both previous tilts while recovering from knee surgery.

``They were really patient; I think it's mostly John,'' Horry said. ``He gets them under control.''

After the Jazz took a 59-51 halftime lead, the Lakers cut it to one point, 63-62, early in the third quarter. That was as close as they'd get. If their fate weren't obvious already, it was by the time Howard Eisley tossed up a 36-foot buzzer-beater at the end of the third quarter to make it 83-70.

The Lakers had a tough time making up ground, as O'Neal got in foul trouble and after a 22-point first half, played only 13 minutes in the last two quarters, scoring just nine more.

Harris almost put O'Neal back in late in the third, then let O'Neal talk him out of it. It was a move Harris later admitted he regrets.

The Lakers have few chances left to redeem such mistakes, their season growing shorter as the Sonics' and Jazz's leads grow larger.

``It's a tough loss, because we expected to win,'' Nick Van Exel said. ``It's gonna be tough to catch either one of those teams.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--Color) Jazz forward Chris Morris forces Lakers center Shaquille O''Neal to turn the ball over in the second quarter.

(2) Jazz guard Howard Eisley sneaks behind a Greg Ostertag screen to get away from Lakers' Nick Van Exel.

Douglas C. Pizac/Associated Press

Box: GAME RECAP