1.  That lax defensive effort continued, as did the parade of penalties.

2.  And out came a flurry of senseless fouls by Chris Childs to go with a flustered defensive effort by the team.

3.  And the Rams responded with a miserable offensive performance paralleled by an inspired defensive effort from Pepperdine.

4.  Another solid defensive effort by the Trojans was going to waste in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

5.  As it turned out, the Lakers only needed their starters, and a defensive effort that ranked among their best this season.

6.  As is typical of the Lakers, they turned their offense around with a revived defensive effort.

7.  ASU dominated Saturday with its best defensive effort of the season and one of its best overall performances.

8.  B- DEFENSIVE BACKS The most prominent heroes of a defensive effort that erased some memories of early-season collapses.

9.  Barkley credited his friend for his physical and exhausting defensive effort, and Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich cited the realities of back-to-back games.

10.  Better that we make remedies after the fact than shackle defensive efforts before it.