Another Lost, Weak End for the Lakers

CLEVELAND —  Billed as LeBron versus Kobe, it turned into Lakers versus themselves, as it has so often this season.

The team that never runs out of ways to lose managed to top itself Sunday, falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 96-95, after allowing a late 15-0 run at Quicken Loans Arena.

The game belonged to the Lakers, and then it didn’t, as their defense crumbled, Ronald “Flip” Murray became a home-team hero, and the losers were yanked back to .500 for the 10th time this season.

Kobe Bryant showed his frustration on the court and Lamar Odom called the loss “weak basketball.” He got little argument after a cozy 91-80 Laker lead was flipped into a numbing 95-91 deficit with 2:32 to play.

Total time elapsed, from start to end of the Cavalier run: A quick, stunning 3:06.

“We blew another one,” forward Luke Walton said. “Same as after the New Jersey game -- we’ve got to find a way to win these games or we’re going to be done April 19.”

The Lakers had led the whole way, by as many as 18, before Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ tip-in gave the Cavaliers their first lead, 92-91, with 3:13 to play. The crowd, subdued for most of the game, was riled the rest of the way, cheering during a subsequent timeout as Bryant’s head was superimposed over an image of Darth Vader on the scoreboard.

Odom had 25 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and, like Walton, some perspective on late 15-0 runs.

“If you want to make the playoffs and make noise in the playoffs, that can’t happen,” he said. “That’s weak basketball.”

It’s difficult to remember that the Lakers are still tied for seventh in the Western Conference, although it’s mainly because of the incompetence of the teams directly below them. The Lakers are 34-34, 8-8 since the All-Star break, and a game ahead of New Orleans/Oklahoma City, which has lost eight games in a row.

The Lakers have a road game tonight in Boston and then return home for 10 of their final 13 regular-season games, but this one will stand out if they don’t play into May.

Odom again played with ambition and purpose, and Bryant had a scintillating first half, making 10 of 15 shots and scoring 24 of his 38 points as the Lakers took a 63-49 halftime lead.

But Murray, acquired last month from Seattle, was the top player in the most important quarter, scoring 14 of his 21 points, mostly on layups and drives. He also made the decisive free throw with 3.4 seconds left after Bryant was called for a reach-in foul on a drive. Murray missed the first free throw and made the second to break a 95-95 tie.

“Tough calls to make in those situations,” said Bryant, who thought he cleanly slapped the ball away from Murray. “It was clear as you can get. Very clear. Extremely clear.”

The Lakers flubbed their final chance, Walton pausing a few seconds as he inbounded from the left side before finding Bryant in traffic several feet outside the three-point line. Bryant launched a 31-foot three-pointer that bounced hard off the back of the rim, then turned to Walton and shook his head in frustration, gesturing angrily that a timeout should have been called.

Laker Coach Phil Jackson concurred. “I think [Walton] got drawn into the play and that was a decision that he didn’t make right,” he said.

Said Walton: “I guess I could have called timeout, but in a 48-minute game, we didn’t lose because I didn’t call a timeout. There’s a lot of things we did bad. I was trying to look at cutters [getting] open and I’d seen Kobe cut to the ball so I threw it to him.”

A frequent critic of referees throughout the season, Jackson declined to go that route Sunday, regardless of Bryant’s contention that Murray should not have been awarded free throws and despite Odom’s getting knocked off-balance by the 7-foot-3 Ilgauskas before missing a driving layup with 8.9 seconds to play.

“Obviously, we can make a point about that, but the game was really in our own hands,” Jackson said. “We had led for 46, 45 minutes of that ballgame. There was really a basic collapse defensively by our team in the fourth quarter, and we never recovered.”

They also lost for the ninth time after leading or being tied in the final minute of the fourth quarter.

Despite his frustrations, Bryant has publicly preached patience for most of the season. He was asked afterward if the Lakers would eventually learn from past mistakes, perhaps eliminating such things as late-game gaffes and shoddy defense.

“Maybe we’re just slower learners,” he said. “But we’ll learn.”

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The fact that LeBron James and Bryant shared the court Sunday led to inevitable discussions of historical context.

Bryant leads the league in scoring with 34.7 points a game, giving him a legitimate shot at being the first player to average 35 since Michael Jordan in 1988.

“He was MVP, defensive player of the year and all that other stuff,” Jackson said of Jordan. “It was a pretty phenomenal year for him. His team won 50-plus games that year.

“This is a comparable year [for Bryant]. I think we’ve gotten away from the one-man scoring thing. He still has outbursts, he still has big moments. I don’t anticipate he’s going to end up scoring 35 a game, but the average is going to be remarkable in its own, whatever that number is.”

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Devean George played four minutes Sunday after missing six games because of a slight fracture in his right wrist. He missed three shots and fumbled a fastbreak opportunity at the end of the third quarter.... Aaron McKie, who sat out 50 games before being activated for three, returned to the inactive list. He has not played since Dec. 1.... Jackson said rookie Von Wafer would be recalled from the development league in about a week. Wafer has averaged 8.7 points in seven games with Fort Worth. He has made only 22 of 64 shots, six of 29 from three-point range.... Center Chris Mihm is slowly progressing from a severely sprained ankle that has cost him four games. He could return in April, Jackson said.

TONIGHT

at Boston, 4:30 PST

(tape delay, 5:30, Ch. 9)

Site -- TD BankNorth Garden.

Radio -- 570, 1330.

Records -- Lakers 34-34, Celtics 28-39.

Record vs. Celtics -- 0-1.

Update -- Paul Pierce hit a free throw with 3.2 seconds left to give the Celtics a 112-111 victory last month at Staples Center.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Below average

Kobe Bryant scored 38 points Sunday, the first time in six games he reached his scoring average, currently 34.7. He has averaged 28.0 over the stretch:

*--* Mar Opponent FG-FGA Pts Result 19 at Cleveland 15-33 38 L 96-95 17 at New Jersey 9-24 24 L 92-89 15 Minnesota 12-25 25 W 92-89 14 at Sacramento 12-28 30 L 114-98 12 Seattle 8-29 22 L 120-113 10 at San Antonio 11-29 29 W 100-92

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