Abdul-Jabbar Hits Jump Shot at Buzzer; Lakers Win, 99-98

The buzzer sounded with the shot still in the air, but when the ball came down the Lakers had their ninth consecutive victory and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had another game-winning shot.

Does this sound a little bit familiar?

This time, however, it was slightly different. Abdul-Jabbar took a jump shot, lofted from 15 feet, and not a sky hook.

But who really cares? After all, no one ever asked Picasso if he used a brush or a paint roller.

It wouldn’t have mattered to the Lakers if Abdul-Jabbar had decided to bounce the ball off his head. Just as long as it goes in, which it always seems to do somehow when Abdul-Jabbar has got the ball with the game on the line.

The San Antonio Spurs fell victim to Abdul-Jabbar, the jump-shooter, Sunday night at the Forum. They lost, 99-98, then retreated to their locker room to shake their heads in wonder.

“It was a great shot by a great guy,” said the Spurs’ George Gervin. “So I guess it was greatness.”

For the longest time, the game was something less than that. Something bad happened to just about everybody, including Abdul-Jabbar, whose last shot before his game-winner (also a jump shot) was an air ball.

“I was worried because the time before that, I missed everything,” said Abdul-Jabbar, who led all players with 28 points and 11 rebounds. “But from the time the last one left my hand, I knew it wouldn’t be an air ball.”

So did Michael Cooper, who got the ball to Abdul-Jabbar with two seconds left. Cooper took an inbounds pass from James Worthy and threw a tough pass under pressure to Abdul-Jabbar.

“He put up his target hand and I believe it or not, I felt all along he was going to take a jump shot and he was going to make it,” Cooper said.

The Spurs thought they were going to make off with a victory after Artis Gilmore dropped two free throws to give them a 98-97 lead with three seconds remaining.

“It would have been a great moment for me, but we got beat on just an unbelievable play,” said Gilmore.

Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons, every player and probably each of the 13,513 at the Forum knew Abdul-Jabbar would take the last shot, but Fitzsimmons wanted to make sure it wasn’t a hook.

With Gilmore sticking his body into Abdul-Jabbar, Fitzsimmons got his wish. The sky hook wasn’t there, but the jumper was.

And so it goes for Abdul-Jabbar, who beat Atlanta with two seconds left on a similar play seven games ago. That one was a sky hook, though.

“He had no choice on what kind of shot he took,” said Laker Coach Pat Riley. “Artis took away a great player’s strength, so the great player went to another great strength. It was that simple. It was a routine play.”

And so it goes, too, for the Lakers, who won without Magic Johnson and matched their longest winning streak since 1981. Not since 1978-79 when the Lakers won 14 straight have they had as many victories in succession.

Johnson watched the game from the bench wearing a suit instead of a uniform as well as a splint on his sprained right index finger. When Abdul-Jabbar’s shot went down, Johnson rushed onto the floor and offered a hand for him to slap--his left.

Without Johnson, Riley started Cooper at point guard and Cooper responded with a season-high 14 assists in 42 minutes. Ronnie Lester also worked at the point, but the biggest offensive news in the backcourt was made by Mike McGee.

In 23 minutes, McGee came through with 18 points, which helped take some of the sting out of not having Johnson around. Johnson has a doctor’s appointment today to check the progress of his finger and his availability for Tuesday night’s game against Denver is uncertain.

The Spurs got 27 points from guard Johnny Moore, 20 in the second half, and 23 more from Gilmore, but just 14 points in 36 minutes from Gervin, who attempted only 13 shots.

Gervin chose a poor time to get tacked with a technical foul. With 4:41 left in the game, he questioned official Ed Middleton’s call of a blocking foul on Moore.

That same play had an interesting beginning. McGee stole the ball from Moore, saved it from going out of bounds by throwing it back to Lester, who was then blocked by Moore, which caused Gervin to get upset.

Bob McAdoo’s free throw on the technical tied the game at 90 and provided the eventual winning margin.

Moore drove the middle for a basket, but Abdul-Jabbar sank consecutive hooks for a 94-92 Laker lead. When Cooper assisted McAdoo on a power drive with 1:53 left, the Lakers appeared safe with a 96-92 lead.

Then it was the Lakers’ turn to goof, only their mistake was wiped clean by Abdul-Jabbar’s game-saver. Moore drove the lane again and was fouled by McGee, but Cooper committed goal-tending on Moore’s shot and when Moore made his free throw, the Laker lead was one point.

Cooper hit a free throw and so did Gene Banks, preceding Abdul-Jabbar’s airball, Gilmore’s potential game-winning free throws and Abdul-Jabbar’s counter move with his actual game-winning jumper.

Cooper said there was nothing else to say about Abdul-Jabbar, then thought of something.

“The man does it all for us,” he said. “I’m just glad he’s on our team.”

Laker Notes

The defeat extended Cotton Fitzsimmons’ personal Forum losing streak to 25, including two playoff defeats, a stretch which spans four teams and 10 years. The last time a Fitzsimmons-coached team won in the Forum was Feb. 17, 1974, when he was with Atlanta. His streak spans seven seasons with Kansas City, one season with Buffalo and two seasons with Atlanta.