LAKERS POP IN CLUTCH; UNABLE TO SHIFT INTO HIGH GEAR IN 4TH QUARTER, L.A. COLLAPSES AND UTAH TAKES 2-0 ADVANTAGE : UTAH 99, LAKERS 95.

Byline: Jim McCurdie Long Beach Press-Telegram 

The Lakers say they have a plan for reversing their fortune in their Western Conference championship series against the older and wiser Utah Jazz.

Well, perhaps plan is too strong a word.

``You've got to hope and pray (NBA Commissioner) David Stern comes to the game,'' forward Robert Horry said.

This is what it's come to? The Lakers conclude their miserable four-day weekend in Utah with Monday night's 99-95 defeat to the Jazz, fall behind in the series 2-0 and start looking for divine intervention from the NBA's highest power?

As if Stern is going to come out of the stands and help them defend against the Jazz's famed pick and roll.

Well, help has got to come from somewhere. Last week's invincible giants are this week's overmatched neophytes. The Lakers unraveled piece by piece in the fourth quarter and got taken to pick-and-roll school by professors Stockton and Malone in front of a Delta Center crowd of 19,911.

Karl Malone scored 33 points and John Stockton had 22 points and six assists as the Jazz took command of the best-of-seven series with a fourth quarter right out of the textbook.

Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal rebounded from a dreadful performance in the blowout loss in Game 1 to score 31 points on 14-of-21 shooting, but he again had a notable lack of offensive support. And after the final buzzer, O'Neal proceeded directly to midcourt to berate referee Steve Javie, whom he apparently thought deserved some blame for the defeat.

``They've got legends over there. We've got nobody over here,'' O'Neal said sarcastically. ``Hopefully, we can go home and get some breaks. But I doubt it.''

The Lakers would argue that the eight fouls called against them in the fourth quarter enabled the Jazz to catch and pass them after trailing by as many as eight points late in the third. But Utah had the same number of fourth-quarter fouls.

Leave it to the 19-year-old kid to quit making childish excuses and own up to the obvious.

``I don't think the referees had that big of an impact,'' Kobe Bryant said. ``We just kind of lacked concentration at the defensive end. We were upset with some of the calls, naturally. But I don't think those had an impact.''

The Lakers' six fourth-quarter turnovers certainly did. They took a 71-70 lead into the final period but helped push the Jazz to 15-5 run with some sloppy ballhandling and poor decision making. The Jazz took its first lead since 11-9, when reserve forward Chris Morris went spinning into the lane and put the ball over O'Neal's extended arm and high off the glass for a basket that gave Utah a 76-75 lead with 9:43 to play.

While the Lakers hit a drought of four minutes, 33 seconds between field goals, Stockton and Malone began going to work. Running one pick and roll after another, they combined for 15 fourth-quarter points. Malone finished the game making 12 of 18 shots, most of his baskets coming on jumpers from the perimeter. Stockton was 9 of 12, mixing the occasional stop-and-pop jumper with creative runners in the lane.

With Horry hobbled by a hip injury suffered in the first quarter and Corie Blount battling foul trouble throughout, the Lakers were in over their heads against Malone's shooting and Stockton master-of-invention display.

``We're trying to play them as best we can,'' Laker guard Nick Van Exel said. ``You've got to leave one of them free. Either you leave Stockton free or you leave Malone free, with somebody running at either one of them. That's the best we can do with their pick and roll.''

Laker coach Del Harris suggested his team might have died from overexposure.

``(The Jazz) is going to make some shots out of the pick and roll, because they run it so frequently,'' he said. ``(Blount) wasn't really stopping Malone, but nobody was. Nobody has.''

Now, the Lakers need to do some serious re-grouping before Game 3 on Friday night in the Forum. They could spend their flight home Monday night debating which defeat here was more painful - Saturday afternoon's 35-point debacle, the most lopsided playoff defeat in their history, or Monday night's heart-wrencher.

``This one sticks with you more,'' guard Derek Fisher said. ``You feel like you worked hard and you deserve to win. But you feel like it was stolen from you.''

Stolen? Or just thrown away?

DOWN THE STRETCH

After the third quarter, the Lakers led 71-70. The fourth quarter brought trouble.

Time Score

10:15 Lakers 75, Utah 74

9:43 Utah 76, Lakers 75

6:24 Utah 85, Lakers 76

3:09 Utah 90, Lakers 88

1:19 Utah 94, Lakers 93

0:25.5 Utah 98, Lakers 93

GAME 2: A CLOSER LOOK

RATING THE LAKERS

OFFENSE: Fair

The Lakers shot 46 percent overall and 53.3 percent in the decisive fourth quarter. But the fast break was broken, producing only four points. And they committed 18 turnovers, including six in the final quarter.

DEFENSE: Poor

For the second consecutive game, the Lakers allowed Utah to hit more than half its shots. The Jazz shot 51.5 percent, including 11 of 18 for 61 percent in a fourth quarter when the Lakers looked like a team that had never seen the pick-and-roll before.

COMPOSURE: Poor

At least this time, the Lakers didn't draw any technical or flagrant fouls, but they did commit stupid fouls at the wrong time - e.g. Corie Blount's knockdown of John Stockton to kill a fast-break chance late in the fourth. And they committed unforced turnovers in crunch time. At the final buzzer, Shaquille O'Neal was at midcourt jawing at referee Steve Javie.

HERO

John Stockton

The Jazz's veteran guard had 22 points and six assists in 31 minutes - including six points and two assists in the final five minutes.

GOAT

Derek Fisher / Nick Van Exel

Neither had much luck containing Stockton, especially at the end. Stockton blew past Fisher for an easy layup at the 4:59 mark and drew a Fisher foul two minutes later. Van Exel and Fisher played together for the last 2:36, but it didn't help.

--- Howard Beck

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos, 2 Boxes

PHOTO (1--Color) The Lakers' Rick Fox, who missed two 3-points shots before the final buzzer, bows in frustration.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

(2) Utah's Karl Malone, who scored 33 points, helped coax the Lakers' Corie Blount into five fouls and made several easy jump shots off the pick and roll.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

(3--Color) Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone, right, sets a pick on Lakers guard Nick Van Exel to allow teammate John Stockton a run for the basket.

Douglas C. Pizac/Associated Press

BOX: (1) DOWN THE STRETCH (see text)

(2) GAME 2: A CLOSER LOOK (see text)