Another Poor Loss for Lakers

The Lakers are running out of time, failing to pick up victories during the easy portion of whatever games are left, a string of ill-timed and inconceivable losses trailing longer and longer behind them.

Their latest gaffe came Wednesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers, owners of the worst record in the Western Conference but keepers of the Lakers for a second time this season in a 99-93 victory at the Rose Garden.

There were grumblings afterward about bad spacing on key plays, about team chemistry issues, about lightly regarded Steve Blake’s beating them again and again. Lamar Odom even reasoned that Kobe Bryant should shoot the ball 40 or 50 times a game because nobody else is doing his job.

It was the continuation of a team in undeniable decline, with losses to lowly Atlanta, Boston and Portland in the last two weeks and a treacherous schedule to come, with three games against San Antonio, two against Phoenix and one against Detroit over the final 24 of the regular season.

Bryant, bleary-eyed and raspy-voiced because of a sinus infection, had 35 points on 10-for-27 shooting. He could have tacked on 20 more shots without any objection from Odom.

“I don’t blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night,” Odom said. “If I had his talent, I’d do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am.”

Odom had 16 points and eight rebounds, and Smush Parker had 14 points.

Trailing by three, the Lakers had a chance to tie, but Darius Miles stripped Parker at the top of the key with 13.9 seconds left and converted a dunk at the other end to put the Blazers up, 98-93.

“We just had poor spacing,” Parker said. “I wanted to pick up the ball and pass it, and it was too late.”

As for big-picture woes, Parker pointed to a solitary culprit.

“Team chemistry,” he said. “I don’t know how you change it.”

The Lakers stand at 29-29, hanging on to eighth place in the West by a couple of torn fingernails, their reputation as streak-enders becoming solidified with every victory by an ailing opponent.

Charlotte had lost 13 consecutive games before beating the Lakers last month. Indiana had dropped six in a row, the Clippers five in a row. The Trail Blazers ended their own skid Wednesday, the second time this season they have seen the end of a six-game losing streak against the Lakers.

They no longer have the “Kobe Stopper,” Ruben Patterson, who was traded to Denver last month, but they apparently do have the Laker Crusher, in Blake.

A career six-point-per-game scorer, Blake continued to numb the Lakers, scoring 19 points and matching his scoring output in a 113-103 Trail Blazer victory over the Lakers in January.

Bryant covered Blake for most of the game.

“It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said.

One play in particular irritated Jackson and Bryant.

With the Lakers down, 94-91, Brian Cook failed to pick up Blake on a switch inside the three-point line. Blake made a 21-footer with 52.9 seconds left.

“We blew a coverage,” Bryant said.

There were many blown moments to recount.

The second quarter had its share of distress, with Bryant missing a reverse dunk, Odom air-balling a long baseline jumper and the Lakers trailing at halftime, 47-40.

Then came the third quarter, a sticking point in recent weeks.

There were goofs and goose eggs. Odom’s entry pass hit Kwame Brown squarely in the face. Odom, Brown and Parker combined for four points. Bryant had 19 of the Lakers’ 23 points in the quarter, which ended with the Lakers behind, 77-63.