Lakers Roll to 148-119 Victory Over the Nuggets

The only thing the Denver Nuggets managed to get right Tuesday night was fulfilling Coach Doug Moe’s pregame prediction.

“We’re going to get the heck kicked out of us,” Moe said.

Fresh from clinching the Midwest Division title, the Nuggets picked a poor time to take a night off because they were supposed to be playing the Lakers in the Forum.

“We had no hope,” Moe said. “If I were a betting man, I’d have called my wife and told her to put the house up. We’re not making excuses, but when the Lakers play that kind of game, we’re not going to beat them.”

Even if the game didn’t mean very much to the Nuggets, the Lakers found that their 148-119 blowout worthwhile because it moved them to within one victory of their 60th of the season.

But Michael Cooper said the Lakers have a more important goal.

“We need to sustain the way we’re playing right now when the playoffs start,” he said. “We have to go in on a high note. And if we happen to play the Nuggets somewhere down the line, maybe this will leave a bad taste in their mouths.”

Meanwhile, the Lakers are salivating their way out of the regular season. They matched their highest point total of the season although they fell one point short of the highest total by an NBA team this season.

They made it look easy, which it was, probably because the Nuggets were as emotionally detached as their coach, who had a difficult time getting up for a game that really didn’t mean a thing to them.

“Hey, I’m an emotional guy and I felt nothing,” Moe said.

So that’s the way the Nuggets played it. The Lakers were having a wonderful time. All those breakaway slam dunks and rainbow three-pointers can make you feel that way.

On several occasions this season, the Lakers have had troubles of their own getting jazzed up to play nothing games, but that wasn’t the Laker problem this game--how to keep from falling asleep was.

“We clinched our division a long time ago,” Cooper said. “If that was their problem, we’ve been fighting the same one for a while.”

The Lakers maintained a mild involvement throughout. Byron Scott scored 12 points in the first quarter and the Lakers led by 13. Larry Spriggs had 10 points in the second quarter, and the Lakers led by 26.

After that, the game was turned over to the guys who don’t play a lot. Moe started little-used Willie White in the second half, but Laker Coach Pat Riley was even more creative, resting all of his starters except Scott, who sat down three minutes later.

Alex English scored 16 of his 28 points in the first quarter for the Nuggets, who didn’t have forward Calvin Natt (sore knee) to throw at the Lakers, who threw plenty back at the Nuggets.

For instance, among Mike McGee’s 26 points were four three-pointers. Seven other Lakers besides McGee, who made 4 of 5 three-point attempts, scored in double figures.

McGee offered a simple explanation of why he tried so many shots from beyond the 25-foot three-point stripe.

“Because they were there,” he said. “It was just like, BAM , and they went down for me.”

For the third consecutive game, Riley had the opportunity to rest his starters. Both Magic Johnson and Scott played 26 minutes, the most among Laker starters.

Johnson said the playing time the non-starters are getting could prove valuable when the playoffs finally begin next week. Until then, though, the Lakers still have three more games.

“Nobody is kidding ourselves,” Johnson said. “The last three are going to be tough to get up for. But we’re just out there having fun, playing it loose and trying to reach our goal of 62 wins.”

Laker notes

With only one home game left, Friday night against Seattle, the Lakers have won 16 consecutive games at the Forum, where they are 35-5, and have not lost since Jan 30. . . Magic Johnson will finish with the third-highest season assists total in NBA history. Kevin Porter holds the record with 1,099. Detroit’s Isiah Thomas has 1,073 this season, and Johnson has 947. . . Kareem Abdul-Jabbar presented a plaque on behalf of the Lakers to Nugget center Dan Issel, who played his last regular-season game in the Forum.