Lakers Are Too Much for Denver to Handle

Relatively speaking, the Lakers’ game at McNichols Arena Tuesday night was a big one. Even though the Lakers entered the game with a seven-game edge over Denver, the Nuggets were making noise about challenging the Purple Reign in the Western Conference.

Even before the game began, Bob McAdoo had heard enough.

When the Nuggets seemed about ready to make good on their claim, coming from 15 points behind to lead by seven in the third quarter, McAdoo decided he also had seen enough.

Barely able to contain himself while on the bench, McAdoo came off of it in a frenzy, scoring 15 fourth-quarter points and leading the Lakers to a convincing 118-104 victory over the Nuggets before a capacity crowd of 17,022.

That firmly established the Lakers as the best in the West as they clinched the homecourt advantage throughout the conference playoffs.

Their 14th victory in the last 15 games, their 25th in the last 28, it gave them a 56-19 record, only three games behind Boston for the best record in the National Basketball Assn.

As for the Nuggets, they still lead the Midwest Division by four games but had their 20-game home winning streak broken. They had not lost in this building since Jan. 5.

They had to realize that wouldn’t intimidate the Lakers, who haven’t lost in this building in three years. They had won seven straight games against the Nuggets at McNichols.

But the Nuggets thought this would be their night, particularly when they heard that Magic Johnson might not play because of a knee injury and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had the flu.

Both played, and played well. Abdul-Jabbar had 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Johnson had 14 points, 13 assists and 7 rebounds.

But it was McAdoo who saved the Lakers, coming off the bench for 20 points and 7 rebounds in 28 minutes.

“Mac plays best when he’s angry at me,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said.

He didn’t want to elaborate, but when reporters persisted, Riley said, “He wants more playing time. The more I leave him over there (on the bench), the angrier he gets.

“I’m saying that facetiously, of course.”

Of course.

McAdoo said he wasn’t angry, just anxious.

“It’s not only me,” he said. “The rest of the team’s the same way. When he (Riley) starts looking down the bench for a substitute, all of us are rocking forward.

“Especially, in a game like this, everybody is really eager to get in and just kill. This kind of game brings out our aggressive type nature.”

It showed primarily on defense, where the Lakers held the league’s leading scoring team to 104 points, 16 less than its average. The Nuggets shot 38.5% from the field.

The Lakers were on the verge of running away with the game in the second quarter, outscoring the Nuggets, 19-5, during one stretch and holding them to 21 points.

Denver came back with 36 points in the third quarter, including 16 by Alex English. He finished with 31 points and 12 rebounds.

That’s when McAdoo took over.

He scored the first two points of the fourth quarter to tie the score, 86-86, then took a nasty fall and bumped his head on the floor.

“That woke me up a little bit,” he said.

He proceeded to score nine of the Lakers’ next 13 points, giving them a five-point lead with 5:55 remaining.

Then he stripped the ball from Denver center Wayne Cooper, which resulted in a three-point play and an eight-point lead.

When he stole and errant pass and took it the length of the floor for an uncontested dunk, the Lakers had a 10-point lead with 3:47 remaining, and many of the fans were heading for the exits.

The Lakers allowed the Nuggets only 18 points in the final quarter, holding English to two. The Nuggets’ other hot scorer, forward Calvin Natt, had only 10 points in the game.

So much for Denver Coach Doug Moe’s contention before the game that the Nuggets have the league’s best running game, even though he allowed that the Lakers have the best fastbreak.

Questioned about the distinction, he said the Lakers run better than anyone else when they have the ball but that they don’t get back on defense to protect against the fastbreak as well as the Nuggets.

Upon reading that, the Lakers felt they had something to prove to the Nuggets, which is one reason Johnson decided to play. He injured the knee in a victory at the Forum Sunday night, and even though he returned in that game, he was hobbling around Monday. He said he wouldn’t play Tuesday night if there was any swelling, but he did, anyway.

“This was the kind of game where I was needed,” he said. “Against another team, maybe I wouldn’t have played. But their style of play is tailor-made for us.”

Johnson estimated he played at 50% effectiveness, which will give the Nuggets something to think about when they meet a healthy Magic and the Lakers again.

Laker Notes

The Lakers play at San Antonio tonight before returning home Friday night against Kansas City. The Lakers are 3-1 this season against San Antonio, the loss coming in their only previous visit to the HemisFair Arena. . . . Spurs guard George Gervin has a sprained ankle and is listed as doubtful for tonight’s game. Rookie Alvin Robertson starts in his place. . . . Even though the Nuggets have one of the league’s best home records, they are 16-20 on the road. Two of their road victories, however, came at the Forum. They play their final regular-season game at the Forum next Tuesday night. . . . The Lakers have seven games remaining, four at home. . . . When the Nuggets play San Antonio here Friday night, it will be Dan Issel Night. He is retiring after this season.