Abdul-Jabbar, Worthy Help Lakers Grind Out a Victory Over the Bulls

Fans of fast-lane basketball think if the Lakers don’t blow everybody out, then they’re boring. They didn’t blow out the Chicago Bulls at the Forum Sunday night, but they did win, and if that qualifies as boredom, then Pat Riley will start yawning immediately.

“We’ve got to fight the idea that everybody expects us to be scintillating every game, go like hell, make great plays, run like crazy and blow every team out,” Riley said. “That’s unrealistic.”

The Lakers made just enough great plays to slip past the Chicago Bulls, 117-113. They also made enough mistakes to keep it close.

How often are you going to see Magic Johnson miss back-to-back layups? Or witness Byron Scott clanking nine consecutive shots off the rim? Or the Lakers going scoreless for nearly four minutes?

That’s what happened to the Lakers, but at least part of it was caused by the Bulls, who even without Michael Jordan can still cause good teams a lot of trouble.

It took James Worthy’s one-game season high of 33 points, a three-point play by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and a slam dunk by Worthy in the last minute to finally subdue the Bulls.

Chicago features three of the league’s best one-on-one players: Quintin Dailey, George Gervin and Orlando Woolridge, but the Bulls do not have anyone who can match up with Abdul-Jabbar and that deficiency perhaps more than any other factor made the difference for the Lakers.

Abdul-Jabbar scored 27 points, and although Jawann Oldham managed to block one of his hook shots, Abdul-Jabbar took over when the Bulls threatened one last time.

Dailey, who scored 19 points in only 22 minutes for the Bulls, and Gervin combined to shoot Chicago within 112-109 with 1:22 left.

Dailey missed the first 12 games of the season after admitting himself into a drug-rehabilitation clinic, but in the eight games since he came back, he has averaged almost a point a minute.

“We’ve always had problems with Dailey,” Riley said. “He’s just almost unstoppable. No, he is unstoppable.”

Abdul-Jabbar was also unstoppable once the Bulls had cut the Laker lead to three points. He scored on a three-point play, then after two free throws by Gene Banks, Abdul-Jabbar assisted Worthy on a layup to give the Lakers a 117-111 lead with only 30 seconds remaining.

Not even two missed free throws by Scott with 10 seconds to go could prevent the Lakers from improving their record to 15-2, which ties Boston for the best in the NBA.

There’s still this nagging idea that the Lakers don’t play well unless they beat a team by a double-digit score.

“That’s the price of success,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

So far this season, the Lakers have been able to afford it.

Johnson concluded his night’s work with 17 points, 17 assists, 8 rebounds and his own version of the Boring Victory theory.

“We just don’t blow everybody out,” he said. “People always expect that from us, but we’re just happy to win. We’re going to have nights like this.”

Not many nights like this have befallen Johnson, whose two blown layups didn’t wind up affecting the outcome at all.

“I just missed them,” he said. “Those things have got to go in the basket.”

Scott knows the feeling. He made only three of 14 shots, but he scored on a driving layup with 3:30 to go after Gervin’s hoop had brought the Bulls to within 106-105.

Maurice Lucas drove the baseline for a basket and Worthy scored inside to give the Lakers the edge they needed until Abdul-Jabbar finally put the game away.

“You’re going to have those kind of nights,” Scott said. “I can’t stop shooting just because the shots aren’t falling.”

And the Lakers can’t stop winning just because they don’t always steamroll the other team.

Chicago Coach Stan Albeck kept Woolridge, the third-leading scorer in the NBA, on the bench for nine straight minutes of the third and fourth quarters until he brought him back in with less than three minutes to go.

“It was tough, no doubt about it,” Woolridge said. “Maybe Stan felt the guys that were out there brought us back and decided to go with them.”

Woolridge finished with 15 points, which was 13 points below his average.

“If a star player happens to be sitting on the bench and the team we have out there is playing good, well, hey, I’m sorry about that,” Albeck said.

Banks earned his playing time in place of Woolridge and scored six of his 11 points in the fourth quarter.

Lucas tied his one-game high this season with 21 points and led all rebounders with 11. He said he was concerned, but not too worried, when the Lakers went nearly four minutes without scoring a point after Worthy’s 17 first quarter points had gotten the Lakers off to a running start.

“We just missed a lot of open shots,” Lucas said. “All of us missed a lot of shots, but we kept getting it back. The way I look at it, any team is capable of beating us on any given night.”

Not too many teams are doing it, though, and the Lakers are still winning, boring or otherwise.

Laker Notes Mitch Kupchak missed the game because of an injury he got in Friday night’s victory over Seattle. Kupchak’s larynx was bruised when he was accidentally elbowed in the neck. He will be re-examined Tuesday. . . . Michael Cooper ran into Orlando Woolridge’s shoulder in the fourth quarter and was struck across the bridge of his nose. Cooper will have precautionary X-rays taken today.