Complacency Might Be a More Dangerous Foe for Lakers Than Suns

So who’s going to beat the Lakers on their way to the conference finals?

Will it be Phoenix? Not unless the crippled Suns strike the Lakers down with their crutches.

How about Dallas or Portland? It hardly seems so since the Lakers were a combined 9-2 against that bunch.

With one season already completed, another one is beginning for the Lakers, who enter the playoffs believing the only thing not wearing sneakers that still has a chance to beat them is complacency.

“We’re not taking anything for granted, not even Phoenix, not until this thing’s over,” Byron Scott said.

Maybe so, but the Lakers have every right to feel pretty smug about themselves. And even though Coach Pat Riley doesn’t want to think about that, it’s difficult to ignore what the Lakers were able to accomplish closing out the season.

They finished the regular season 20-2 and were 27-4 after the all-star break. They also start the playoffs against a Phoenix team with so few healthy players that Monday’s practice was called off because they didn’t have enough able bodies.

For 82 games, the Lakers seemed to live a charmed life. Is it one that could only lead to a championship?

“I feel very strongly we can win it,” Magic Johnson said. “I know we can win it if we play our game. We can’t let up, even against Phoenix. We have got to come out and play like madmen.”

There are still two months of games left before the championship series is over in June. Until that happens, Riley is trying hard not to allow his players to look very far ahead. He has already targeted a potential trouble spot.

“One of the key things we have to deal with is the media,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll hear that the conference playoffs are going to be a cakewalk for us.

“But we can’t take that mind-set, even against Phoenix.

“I’m not going to stand here and tell you I don’t think we can win it,” Riley said. “But the obvious thing that can hurt us is not focusing on whoever we are playing. We simply cannot listen to or believe what other people are saying about how easy it’s going to be for us.”

The Lakers agree with Riley, at least publicly. They say they won’t take any team for granted, not even the Suns, who slid into the playoffs instead of the lottery by failing to lose as many games as Seattle.

For that small error, the Suns may be awfully sorry. The Laker team they play in a best-of-five series beginning Thursday night at the Forum is the hottest in the league.

“But it’s only a case of so-far, so-good,” Laker center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said. “We have to fight through all the distractions first. Then we have to fight through all the weird things that can happen to a team in the playoffs.

“We’ve only played one season,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “Now, we have the real season.”

At times, especially the second half of the season, the Lakers’ play was more unreal.

The Lakers set three National Basketball Assn. season records. They made 54.5% of their field-goal attempts, had more assists than any team in history and won their division by 20 games.

Only one serious injury occurred, that when Jamaal Wilkes tore ligaments in his left knee Feb. 1 and was lost for the season. But since Wilkes was not a factor in last season’s playoffs because of an illness, the Lakers say they are just as strong as they were when they lost the seven-game championship series to Boston.

“In fact, we’re better than last year,” Laker General Manager Jerry West said. “We feel pretty confident about our chances right now.”

Riley should feel equally as good about his season-long strategy to take some of the ball-handling load off Johnson, which should become apparent in the playoffs.

Michael Cooper was equally as important at backup point guard as he was in his defensive assignments against small forwards. And in order to give Johnson a break in bringing the ball upcourt, Riley regularly gave Scott the ball to save wear and tear on Johnson.

Johnson began last year’s playoffs 17 pounds lighter than he was during training camp, but this year Johnson lost only 11 pounds and feels stronger.

“They weren’t able to be running and bumping me all the time,” Johnson said. “Plus, I’ve learned how to deal with it, how to stay strong when they do.”

Instead of allowing the defenders to bump him when he slows his dribble to call a play on the way upcourt, Johnson now uses a different tactic.

“I blow by them,” he said.

Johnson said the large number of Laker blowouts gave him a chance to rest for the playoffs. Abdul-Jabbar, who sat out the last two games of the regular season, said he is also well rested.

Riley said he expects Scott and James Worthy, who played in their first championship series last season, to carry more of a load this time around.

“Last year was the first time either of them had tasted what it’s like to play for the whole ball of wax,” Riley said. “They’re really vital for us this year. We can’t always depend on just Kareem and Magic.”

Riley plans to depend on only eight players during the playoffs--the five starters plus Cooper and Bob McAdoo, with the eighth either Larry Spriggs, Mike McGee or Mitch Kupchak.

Besides the obvious key players, Kurt Rambis and McAdoo may prove to be very important if the Lakers are to go all the way.

Rambis was the Lakers’ most consistent rebounder during the regular season, and he must again defend the power forward in the playoffs. It has worked so far. The Lakers are 36-6 since Rambis moved into the starting lineup.

McAdoo, who Riley said is going to get a lot of work at center against the Suns, must continue to score, rebound and block shots when he comes off the bench.

Riley said having McAdoo is like having a warranty.

“When he breaks down, he’s always going to come back,” Riley said.

The Lakers experienced few breakdowns this season. They never had a crippling injury to a front-line player, never had a long losing streak and never permitted their fast break to be more than just a rebound and outlet pass away.

At the start of the season there was a lot of player grumbling that too much attention was being given to set plays at the expense of the running game. Those complaints were quieted by two moves.

The first was right after the Lakers began the season by losing five of their first eight. Riley replaced Wilkes with Worthy as his starting small forward. That gave the Lakers another player near the basket and also freed Abdul-Jabbar from attracting even more defensive attention than usual.

“Worthy has to be defended on the low post,” Riley said. “Jamaal was on the perimeter and the weak-side (away from the ball) big men sagged into the middle. Now, they have to respect James with their defense.”

As for the second move, Abdul-Jabbar said all the talk about the Laker predictability on offense ended when they began to win, and win big, on a regular basis.

“Once we started winning, people didn’t ask about it any more,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

The Lakers insist they are merely confident but not necessarily cocky about the playoffs and having to play a 200-1 shot Phoenix team in the first round is going to mess up their thought processes.

“Oddsmakers deal in fantasy,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “We have to deal in reality. This is where it has been known to get crazy for some people. Ask Philadelphia about losing in the first round last year. There are always some surprises.”

But way down deep, even if they won’t admit it, the Lakers have to be wondering if they can sweep the Suns and get rid of them in three games. If they don’t, that could be the only surprise the Lakers will have for a while.

Laker Notes

The Suns have announced their starting lineup for Game 1--Charles Pittman and Mike Sanders at forward, Alvan Adams at center and Jay Humphries and Kyle Macy at guard. . . . Center James Edwards probably won’t play in the first game because he hurt his back Sunday in the Suns’ last game of the season. Guard Walter Davis (bone spur surgery) is definitely out, and forward Larry Nance (pulled groin muscle) is almost certain to miss the entire series. . . . Kareem Abdul-Jabbar rated only Boston and Milwaukee as having as good a chance as the Lakers to win the title, with Philadelphia, Houston and Denver as maybes.