Lakers Defeat 76ers, 109-104 : Abdul-Jabbar, Scott Are Keys to Big Victory

Since there are still 2 1/2 months left in the regular season, it may seem slightly premature, but the Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers, who expect to bump into each other again later on, got together Friday night at the Forum with the playoffs on their minds.

“This was definitely a preview of what’s to come,” Magic Johnson said.

If that’s true, then the Lakers may like what they see. They finally beat one of the East teams they expect to find waiting for them in the championship series.

The Lakers slipped past the 76ers, 109-104, before a sellout crowd of 17,505 and sensed a psychological lift for a playoff series with Philadelphia.

“Since we only meet these guys twice during the season, it did us some good to split with them,” James Worthy said. “You don’t want to be 0-2 against a good team like Philadelphia. We had to at least split against them, so if we do play them, they won’t be so satisfied.

“We couldn’t let them have a psychological edge on us.”

The Lakers, who never trailed after the first quarter, saw the 76ers climb within 95-93 with 5:07 left. It was still a four-point game when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, playing with five fouls, put the game out of reach.

First, Abdul-Jabbar dropped a hook shot with 1:36 left, then blocked a shot that ended in Byron Scott’s breakaway dunk that gave the Lakers a 107-99 lead.

Abdul-Jabbar led the Lakers with 23 points, and Scott had 22 to offset a 30-point outburst by Andrew Toney, who also sank three three-pointers.

After Scott’s dunk, the Lakers were safe to celebrate winning not only a ball game, but a mind game as well.

Julius Erving said that if the 76ers had won, they would certainly have enjoyed an advantage over the Lakers if the two teams met in the championship series.

“It would have given us an edge knowing we had had beaten them twice,” he said. “They wouldn’t have been able to figure out how to beat us. They would have been forced to experiment--maybe even make a trade--and that doesn’t guarantee they would have gotten better.”

None of that matters right now to the Lakers. They turned them selves completely around from the first game with Philadelphia, especially on the backboards, where the Lakers had a 37-34 edge.

That may seem slight, but Charles Barkley, the guy who wrecked the Lakers in the first game, had only two rebounds in 21 minutes. Erving had 16 points but only one rebound in 35 minutes.

Moses Malone finished with 14 rebounds, but he shot just 5-for-13 and committed seven turnovers.

In addition to his nine rebounds, Abdul-Jabbar also blocked four shots and played 41 minutes despite foul problems. Johnson worked 39 minutes and passed out 15 assists.

“If we had gone down 0-2 against them, we wouldn’t have been devastated, but this was still just a regular-season game,” Johnson said. “If we see each other again in the playoffs, neither team will be the same as we are now anyway. The concentration will be different, and so is the focus.”

Johnson considers any championship series focus to be a little narrow.

“It’s still us, Boston and Philadelphia,” he said. “Still the big names and still the big three.”

Toney, who didn’t start the third quarter, made his first appearance of the second half a memorable one when he hit a three-pointer.

Toney rained another three-pointer in the third quarter to cut the Laker lead to 80-77. Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Cooper prevented the 76ers from getting any closer.

Abdul-Jabbar made one of two free throws then Cooper stole the ball and got it to Mike McGee who slipped away for a layup. Abdul-Jabbar blocked Clemon Johnson’s shot to allow the Lakers an 83-77 lead after three quarters.

Cooper was playing at forward after Kurt Rambis collected his fourth foul with 7:31 left in the third quarter.

The last time these two teams met was Dec. 7 when the 76ers blocked 15 Laker field goal attempts and scored a 122-116 victory in the Spectrum.

In the first half Friday night, the Lakers had all the shots they wanted and the majority of them fell in. The Lakers, who shot 65.9% in the first half, spurted slightly just before the half and took a 61-51 lead into the third quarter.

Scott, who had 16 points in the first half, scored eight of them in the second quarter, all in the last five minutes when the Lakers managed to put a little distance between themselves and the 76ers.

Toney and James Worthy each scored 10 points and got off quickly in the first quarter, which ended with the Lakers up by three points.

Worthy, matched up against Erving, couldn’t help but have a little bit of Julius’ flair rub off on him. Worthy got loose for a breakaway layup, dribbling the ball behind his back while on the fly.

The 76ers were still within 44-39 after Johnson, Moses Malone’s backup, scored six consecutive points over Abdul-Jabbar. But Abdul-Jabbar countered with a left-handed hook to get the Lakers going again.

But Scott got out three times on the breakaway and the Lakers shot ahead 54-41 with 2:55 left.

When Larry Spriggs took an Abdul-Jabbar pass and dunked left-handed, the Lakers had their biggest lead of the half, 59-45. Maurice Cheeks’ three-pointer and Malone’s three-point play after Spriggs threw the ball away with three seconds left got the 76ers to within 10 points at halftime.

Laker notes

Bob McAdoo sat out his second-straight game because of a bruised left heel. McAdoo will travel with the Lakers to Salt Lake City this morning, but he won’t play against the Jazz tonight at the Salt Palace. . . . Rookie Earl Jones, who has been on the injured list since Nov. 27 after fracturing a bone in his right foot, won’t be able to remove the cast he’s wearing for another two months. Trainer Gary Vitti said doctors have attached electrodes to Jones’ calf to prevent muscle atrophy.