Lakers’ Destiny Is Virtually Out of Their Control

Hat in hand, pride in check, the Lakers ask for help. They need enemies to become friends. Not you, Tim Hardaway.

They need outside help to catch Seattle, unable to do it themselves as proven by three losses in as many tries. The SuperSonics have a four-game lead in the standings and a five-game lead in reality because the edge in the season series has also given them the tiebreaker should they finish even with the Lakers. So the Lakers take a deep breath, swallow hard and step out to the street corner.

“It is tough,” Eddie Jones said. “We only get them once more. We’ve got to do what we need to do that once more and then hope the Utahs, the Phoenixes, the San Antonios can handle them.”

That’s about all they have left in this race. Hope.

Clearly, the energy would be better spent elsewhere because the Pacific Division is all but lost given that the SuperSonics show no sign of collapse, even though the teams play again Friday night at the Great Western Forum. Oh, and one other thing:

Clearly, the energy would be better spent elsewhere because that unrealized goal could quickly turn into the last of the Laker problems.

Winning six of their last seven and nine of 12 has allowed them a comfort comparable to sleeping on a bed of nails. The division title? They’re closer to having to go without home-court advantage in the first round.

Talk about your reality checks. The SuperSonics could open the playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers could open at San Antonio.

With fewer than 20 games left in the regular season, the West offers a one-through-five race that appears destined to live up to the preseason hype about the competitiveness of the conference. Barring an unexpected collapse of the SuperSonics--”I think we’re veteran enough and talented enough to know that won’t happen,” guard Hersey Hawkins said--the Lakers will fall somewhere in the middle.

Reality says they can’t catch Seattle for the No. 1 spot. The rules say they can’t get the No. 2 spot, because that has to go to a division winner, either the SuperSonics of the Pacific or the Utah Jazz or Spurs of the Midwest. But the Lakers still have a good chance to finish with the second-best record in the conference, important for home-court advantage in the playoffs.

They could be in a much worse position, after all. The final 18 games--half at home--come against 14 opponents with a combined .449 winning percentage before Tuesday’s games. Eight of the games would be against teams that qualify if the postseason started Tuesday.

Consider the more difficult plight for their fellow racers, with statistics and playoff possibilities as of Tuesday:

* Seattle--18 games (10 home, eight road) against 14 opponents playing at .460 pace, with 10 of the games coming against playoff teams. “All we can do is throw 62, 63 wins out there,” Coach George Karl said. “And if somebody beats it, we’ve got to shake their hand.”

* Phoenix--17 games (seven home, 10 road) against 12 opponents at .497, with 12 of the games coming against playoff teams. The fun starts tonight with a stretch in which the Suns have consecutive matchups with the Lakers, SuperSonics, Spurs and Jazz.

* Utah--19 games (eight home, 11 road) against 15 opponents at .456, with 12 of the games coming against playoff teams. The Jazz and Lakers play twice more, including an April 19 regular-season finale at the Forum that could carry major implications.

* San Antonio--17 games (eight home, nine road) against 16 opponents at .529, with 12 of the games coming against playoff teams. That makes this the toughest of the finishing schedules, with a five-game trip still ahead and meetings with the Charlotte Hornets, Suns, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, Jazz, SuperSonics (twice) and Lakers.