Rockets Getting Used to Being Kareem-ed : Laker Center Has Usual Big Game Against Houston, Towers Notwithstanding

Memo to Rockets: If stopping Kareem Abdul-Jabbar remains priority, suggest placing man between him and basket at all times, as Big Fella is still solid threat when unopposed, regardless of advanced age.

This may seem to be one of those fundamentals of basketball that every one knows, but the Rockets violated it Saturday, along with several others. Abdul-Jabbar got one dunk when he was left unguarded behind the defense by Akeem Olajuwon, who was on his way to the Rocket bench, under the mistaken impression that he’d already been relieved by Ralph Sampson.

Actually, Sampson was still waiting at the scorer’s table. The referees ruled that he reported there too late. Abdul-Jabbar had two more of his 31 points, and the Rockets were on their way to a 119-107 loss in the opener of the Western Conference final series at the Forum.

Actually, Abdul-Jabbar’s 31 represented one of the few Rocket bright spots. His total was two points below his season average against them.

“I’m not convinced we lost because we didn’t control Jabbar,” Rocket Coach Bill Fitch said. “I don’t know if we couldn’t do the same thing with Jabbar, give him 31 points and the other numbers he had today, and do some of the things we do well. (Denver’s) Alex English got 31 points against us last week.”

On the minus side for the Rockets, Abdul-Jabbar already had 28 points with 3:58 left in the third period. He shot the ball only a few times thereafter.

He had 16 points with 2:55 left in the first half, without having taken a shot more than five feet away from the basket and without having put up his first skyhook. Before anyone found out whether he was hot or not, he had sneaked behind the defense, or dunked a couple off passes by Magic Johnson, or scored on a rebound, or caught the ball so deep that he had only to wheel and lay it up.

He had two dunks in the 13-0 spurt that brought the Lakers from 36-44 to 49-44, and two layups and a little turn-in hook in the 8-0 run that took them from 49-51 to 57-51 and put them ahead to stay.

So continued the classic matchup-in-waiting, Abdul-Jabbar against the two centers of a future that he is continually deferring.

In their first three meetings this season, Abdul-Jabbar scored 35, 46 and 43 points against Olajuwon, who was assigned to play him without help, or straight up, as they say. After which Fitch said of Akeem, “He’s just going to have to learn how to play that guy.”

In meetings Nos. 4 and 5, Fitch shifted the 7-4 Sampson onto the Laker center and double-teamed him. Abdul-Jabbar was held to 18 and 23 points. Maybe the Rockets had something. Maybe Kareem was just tired of rolling up big numbers on them in regular-season games.

Sampson got the nod Saturday, but without double-team help. The Rockets may not have died by the skyhook, but foxy old Kareem ran up a nice-sized number on them without it.

Fitch said: “With Ralph, suppose it’s a situation like today, where you don’t have a lot of pre-time, where you can explain this and that defensively, it’s more natural to go with him. As the series rolls along, both of them will guard him.”

Age notwithstanding, Abdul-Jabbar has advantages over the Rocket Twin Towers. He is taller than Olajuwon, who is listed at 7-0 but who Fitch once said is closer to 6-9 1/2. And he is strong enough to keep the slender Sampson from pushing him away from the basket.

Why wasn’t he pushing Kareem out, Sampson was asked.

“Sometimes,” Sampson said, “he doesn’t want to go. . . .

“I used to watch him in championship games and he’s the same type of player, but he’s better now. He’s wiser now. He knows what he can do and can’t do. He just sticks it in.

“Does he feel a challenge? Definitely. He likes to play against us. He knows it’ll be one-on-one and he can do a lot of things, shoot the skyhook, and be the man that he is.”

Abdul-Jabbar was the man he is once again Saturday. Fitch went back to the drawing board.

Tune in Tuesday for this and that.

Rocket Notes Rocket Coach Bill Fitch, on Magic Johnson’s 26-point, 18-assist game, which included several driving layups: “I think the best answer is we didn’t want him to go there, but he did. Somebody asked, why didn’t you pick him up at half-court? I’m smart enough to know, if we’re picking him up at the three-point line and he’s blowing by us, if we pick him up at half-court where he’s got 30 more feet, we’re really going to be in trouble.” The Rocket guarding Johnson was Lewis Lloyd. . . . Both teams played their third playoff game in five days, with two travel days in between. The Lakers took today off, but the Rockets planned to practice. “We’re debating on whether to go all day,” Fitch said.