LAKERS ROCKED BY JAZZ : IT WAS WEDNESDAY, SO, YES, LAKERS LOST UTAH 101, LAKERS 75.

Byline: Marc Stein Daily News Staff Writer

In the Lakers' universe, Wednesday is lump day.

Every time it comes up on the calendar, they get battered.

``Don't like Wednesdays,'' Nick Van Exel explained after a fifth-straight midweek loss for the Lakers, who on this Wednesday visited Utah's Delta Center and came away with a 101-75 defeat that ranks as their most lopsided setback of the year.

``It's bad luck,'' Van Exel added. ``Every Wednesday seems like it's the 13th.''

That's because the Lakers have played on every Wednesday - after playing on every Tuesday - since the season started. And got beat every time.

First came a humbling loss to Vlade Divac's Charlotte Hornets on Nov. 5. Then an even more embarrassing outing in San Antonio a week later, followed by a home loss to these same Jazz and a 16-point debacle in Boston.

Here, coming off a down-to-the-wire home triumph over Seattle which took their Tuesday record to 5-0, the Lakers hoped to finally snap their twin jinxes.

Oh, well. They're still winless on Wednesdays and in the second game of back-to-backs.

``I've got to get (intense), and so does everybody else,'' said Van Exel, who combined with hobbling backcourt mate Eddie Jones to shoot 3 of 21 from the field as the Jazz (14-2) claimed its 12th straight victory.

``We're 0-5 in back-to-back games now, but we can't use that excuse every time.''

Lakers coach Del Harris added, ``Nobody really cares if you played the night before or not.''

Utah certainly didn't mind. Figuring that the Lakers had plenty of motivation after losing by 16 to the Jazz at the Forum just two Wednesdays prior, Jerry Sloan's club was happy to discover just the opposite to be true.

The brainlock started early for L.A. (13-7), with Shaquille O'Neal drawing two fouls in the first 6:57 and then a third with foul-magnet Karl Malone driving to the basket and Lakers backup Travis Knight waiting at the scorer's table to check in for him.

In between those two fouls, O'Neal also drew a technical from referee Scott Foster - the official bumped last April by Magic Johnson - to truly set the tone. By intermission, the Jazz had a 12-point lead and the Lakers had their lowest output for any half this season (35).

After the break, the only real suspense was whether the Lakers, led by O'Neal's 21 points and eight rebounds, would avoid the worst offensive performance in team history. And they only just avoided it.

A garbage-time dunk by Corie Blount with 16.6 seconds remaining pushed the Lakers one point past their all-time low of 74, recorded in 1990 against Cleveland and in '95 against Denver, to earn just a smidge of solace.

Not much else was a comfort - the season-low accuracy from the field (34.1 percent), the 54-27 margin over the middle two quarters or another big third period from Karl Malone.

In L.A., Malone had 20 points in the third and 37 overall. Here he had 17 in that quarter to finish with 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Lakers counterpart Elden Campbell had 12 points and six rebounds at halftime . . . and 12 points and six rebounds at game's end.

``No excuses,'' said Jones, who was shifted back to shooting guard after 11 starts as a fill-in small forward for the injured Cedric Ceballos, but managed just four points on 1-of-10 shooting while playing with a groin strain.

Said Harris: ``During an 82-game season, there are going to be four or five games you'd like to delete. And this was one of them.

``Naturally, the players are down and I'm down. Last night I had a lot of good lines. Tonight I don't have any. But I'm not despondent. Four or five times a year, you're going to be horrible. And I would attribute a lot of that to Utah.''

Or Wednesdays.

And we must caution: L.A. plays on the next three Wednesdays. Home to Indiana, away to Milwaukee and then at Phoenix on Christmas Day.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Shaquille O'Neal dunks while also strangling Jazz center Greg Ostertag in the first quarter.

Associated Press