LAKERS TO HIT BOTTOM?

Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer

Bad mismatches: a 20-acre fire vs. a squirt gun. Niagara Falls vs. an umbrella. The wind vs. Jimmy Johnson's hair. Temptation vs. Bill Clinton.

And Charles Barkley's rear vs. almost anyone in his way.

Barkley's back-down into the paint is as predictable as Barry Sanders on third-and-inches. But Sanders gets the first down anyway, and Barkley's rear-end will inevitably push defenders right to the hoop for easy buckets, over and over and over.

And so Barkley did Sunday, scoring 12 points in the fourth quarter and rallying his Houston Rockets in a comeback bid that fell just short.

The Lakers got the victory in Game 1 of this first-round playoff series, but after Barkley's 25-point game, they spent much of Monday's practice searching for new ways to put out forest fires with squirt guns.

``We're going to make some adjustments,'' coach Kurt Rambis said.

Presumably, that means more assistance for undersized power forwards Robert Horry and J.R. Reid, who simply took turns standing in Barkley's way. Reid fouled out in the effort, showing how futile it can be to guard the powerfully built Barkley one on one.

``He's a freak. He's only 6-6, but he's got a great, low center of gravity, tremendously strong legs,'' Rambis said. ``He's got an excellent game. He can hurt you going to the baseline or coming to the middle. He can step out and hit jumpshots. He's quick off the dribble, he's got tremendous first-step quickness, and he does a great job of going after any of his missed shots inside.

``So it doesn't matter who you put on him - he has an offensive counter to the defensive weaknesses of whoever you have guarding him.''

At 6-10 each, Horry (235 pounds) and Reid (250) are taller than Barkley but too lithe to prevent his backdowns.

``(Horry and Reid) did some things wrong,'' Rambis said, ``but if anybody had a way to stop Charles Barkley one on one, they would have come up with it a long time ago. . . . He's basically unstoppable inside.''

As the Lakers prepared for tonight's Game 2 at the Forum, they considered the full range of options. When they faced the Rockets two weeks ago in Houston, they tried frequent double-teams, but the savvy Barkley is an accomplished passer as well, and he kept finding Scottie Pippen and Cuttino Mobley for open jumpers.

Early in Sunday's game, they sent guards to ``dig'' at Barkley once he began his move and held him to nine points in the first half. But the Lakers settled for the one-on-one matchups most of the second half.

And once Barkley shifts into reverse and starts his banging, there's little the average man can do.

``No, not really, you just got to hope that he misses,'' Horry said. ``You've just got to play him as strong as possible. Really, what he's doing is an offensive foul, if you want to really look at it. But you just got to hope that you can hold him off and just try to contest it.''

What next?

``We've got options,'' Horry said confidently. ``I don't want to say too much. I'm not going to let y'all get our game plan and have them read it in the paper.''

Late in Sunday's game, the Lakers even tried 330-pound Shaquille O'Neal on Barkley, but that left Hakeem Olajuwon with easy shots over shorter defenders.

There are certain players in the NBA who match up with Barkley but not many.

``Guys who are big, strong and long and can move, those are the guys who are going to have the best chance against him,'' Rambis said. ``Guys that he's not going to be able to just push underneath the basket. And whenever he does go up for a shot, they've got long arms to be able to contest his shots.''

Guys like Elden Campbell. The former Lakers power forward was their best defender against Barkley, but he was traded to Charlotte along with Eddie Jones for Reid and Glen Rice. No less an authority than Barkley himself said the Lakers missed Campbell's presence.

Now Barkley says he'll shoot 25 times if he gets single coverage again. A couple of weeks ago, he literally laughed as he threw Horry around like a papier-mache mannequin.