Cooper Still Saying Series Will Go Limit

For appearances’ sake, the Lakers practiced for an hour Friday at the Forum. But about the only thing they really needed to work on was how to keep a straight face when talking about their best-of-five playoff series against the Phoenix Suns.

After blowing out the Suns by 28 points in the series opener Thursday night, the Lakers staunchly maintained that the injury-riddled Phoenix team is not to be taken lightly going into Game 2 today at 12:30 at the Forum.

Laker guard Michael Cooper, who had earlier predicted that the series would go to the five-game limit, stood by that prediction Friday. Apparently, it didn’t matter to Cooper that the Suns, without starters Larry Nance, Walter Davis and James Edwards, will suit up only nine players for today’s game.

“I still believe that it’ll go five,” said Cooper Friday, suppressing a smile. “Phoenix has a lot of pride, and that loss the other night is going to make them come out and play harder. We definitely expect a tough series the rest of the way.”

None of the other Lakers went so far as to predict that the series would last any longer than the minimum three games, but they said they expect the Suns to put up more of a fight than in Game 1 Thursday, when they trailed by 39 points in the second half.

Said Magic Johnson: “Every time the Phoenix Suns walk onto the court they are capable of winning. You don’t make it to the playoffs if you’re not a good team. We just block out all that talk about us blowing them away.”

Added Byron Scott: “When we heard that people weren’t giving Phoenix a chance, it made us work harder. It gave us the killer instinct. We really concentrated on putting away the Suns last night (Thursday).”

The question now is not whether the Lakers will beat Phoenix but how they will go about doing it.

The Suns surprised everyone by trying to run with the Lakers in Game 1. It worked for about eight minutes, until the Lakers adjusted and ran the Suns into the ground. The Lakers scored a playoff-record 45 points in the first quarter and coasted from there.

Phoenix Coach John MacLeod hasn’t decided whether to continue the running game or to slow the tempo. When the Suns last visited the Forum, March 31, they took 14 seconds off the 24-second shot clock before beginning their offensive patterns. The Lakers countered by extending their defense and posted a 124-98 victory.

The Suns probably will settle on a strategy somewhere between showtime and slowtime. At least, that was Laker Coach Pat Riley’s opinion Friday.

“I’m not even going to try to guess what the Suns will do tomorrow,” Riley said. “But maybe going all out either way--running or slowdown--is not the answer. It’s been my contention before this series started that we shouldn’t concern ourselves with what they do. We just have to adapt to the situation, no matter what it is.”

If running resulted in a 28-point loss for the Suns, how bad would it be if they resort to a half-court game? Probably a lot worse.

“I feel that, even now, they are better off trying to run,” Johnson said. “Right now, they don’t have the three guys (Davis, Nance and Edwards) that can enable them to play half-court. With those guys, they have one of the three best half-court games around. But it’s better off for them to run now.”

But don’t the Lakers prefer to play against running teams?

“We love it,” said Johnson, with a wide grin, “because we love to run even more.”

Riley said that the Suns had resembled the Denver Nuggets Thursday night in that they tried to run whenever possible. The problems were that the Suns shot poorly and committed 20 turnovers.

Phoenix forward Maurice Lucas had a suggestion. “There are a number of ways (to beat the Lakers),” he said. “The first is to catch Magic Johnson in an alley before the game, and the second is to do the same to Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar).”

That may be the only chance the Suns have of making Cooper’s prediction come true.

Laker Notes Phoenix Coach John MacLeod is again expected to start with Mike Sanders and Charles Pittman at forwards, Alvan Adams at center and Jay Humphries and Kyle Macy at guards. Maurice Lucas was the most effective Sun, scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds Thursday night. . . . Sun forward Larry Nance, who has a pulled groin muscle, has been officially scratched from the series. Forward Charles Jones, who played six minutes with a sprained ankle, will not play today. . . . If there is another blowout today, Laker Coach Pat Riley said his team can still do something constructive. “Maybe after getting a 20- or 30-point lead, the challenge is to challenge ourselves,” he said. . . . The cover of the Phoenix playoff press guide is made up to look like the front of a box of Band-Aids. . . . For Game 3 Tuesday night at Phoenix, the Suns are staging a promotion with Blue Cross. Each fan who comes to the game will be given a first-aid kit.