NBA PLAYOFFS : Laker’s Un-Worthy Percentage : Shooting Slump May Be Due to Change in Defensive Role

James Worthy loped into the playoffs as the most accurate shooter in the history of NBA postseason play.

Worthy’s shooting percentage was 59.3, which looked really good.

But after the first two games of the Lakers’ Western Conference final series with the Houston Rockets, Worthy is shooting more poorly than any other Laker.

Worthy has made only 37.5% of his shots against the Rockets, and that wouldn’t look good even through rose-colored goggles.

The Lakers and the Houston Rockets, tied at 1-1 in their best-of-seven series, will play Game 3 tonight in the Summit, and Worthy thinks he will quickly find out if his shooting touch is going to come around.

“It’s only been two games and I’ve struggled both games, so I guess I’ll have to wait until the third game to see,” Worthy said.

What has gone wrong? Coach Pat Riley and Worthy agree that Worthy’s mini-shooting slump is only a temporary situation. Even though both player and coach aren’t exactly sure when Worthy’s problems will end, it’s not difficult to figure out when they began.

The trouble with Worthy’s offense seems to have started at the defensive end, when Riley switched Worthy’s defensive assignment in Game 5 of the Dallas series.

Instead of defending against 6-9 Sam Perkins, Worthy, a 6-9 small forward, passed that job along to Magic Johnson and assumed the task of handling 6-4 guard Rolando Blackman.

So far in the series with Houston, Riley has made Worthy’s defensive matchup another guard, 6-5 Lewis Lloyd.

Giving Worthy the assignment of playing the other team’s off-guard allows Johnson, a better rebounder than Worthy, to go more often to the backboards, but that isn’t all.

It also means that Worthy suddenly has a lot more to think about than his shooting.

Riley dismissed the notion that switching Worthy’s matchup might not have been such a good idea. He said that Worthy is capable of defending against any off-guard in the NBA, if he only concentrates on his job.

“It wasn’t a gamble,” Riley said. “Some people probably think it is. But he also played a little against Alvin Robertson in the San Antonio series and he took Dennis Johnson at times against Boston, so he’s familiar with it.

“The truth of the matter is that offensive players don’t think about defense,” Riley said. “But James plays it.

“Besides, we do a lot of switching on defense, so James doesn’t always wind up defending the player he’s matched up against.”

Worthy got off to a rocky start in Game 5 against the Mavericks when Blackman scored 11 points in the first quarter and forced Worthy to the bench with fouls.

But the Lakers, as Riley pointed out, won both Game 5 and Game 6, and Worthy finished the first two rounds of the playoffs shooting 57.9%.

In the first two games against the Rockets, Worthy made only 12 of 32 shots and had just 27 points, just three more than Rocket forward Rodney McCray, basically a non-scorer who averaged 10.3 points during the regular season.

Riley said that however long it takes for Worthy to get through the rough times with his shooting, he should concentrate on other areas to help the Lakers in the meantime.

“When a great offensive player is struggling, they should think, ‘How can I help the team by passing, rebounding, blocking out?’ ” Riley said. “Then surely the shots will fall. One of these days, James will break loose and have one of those big games, and this will all be forgotten.”

Worthy isn’t the only Laker with problems putting the ball in the basket against the Rockets. Before this series began, the Lakers, the NBA’s best shooting team, were averaging 55.4%, but that figure is only 48.6% in the two games with Houston.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who shot 60.5% against San Antonio and 59.7% against Dallas, has dropped to 44.9% against the Rockets after making just 9 of 26 in Game 2.

In addition, Byron Scott is at 46.2% and Michael Cooper at 45.5% in this series, but none of the three have had their defensive assignments switched.

Worthy, though, isn’t complaining. “I don’t really get into coaching situations,” he said. “I just do what’s asked. But it’s a difficult assignment, no question about it.

“Sure, I’m chasing little guys over the court, but that shouldn’t be affecting my offense. I’m still getting good shots; it’s just that, so far, I haven’t been able to get them to fall.”

Laker Notes Magic Johnson said the Lakers can draw from experience to help them in a 1-1 playoff series. “We’ve been in this same situation so many times before,” Johnson said. “If we lose Friday, we come back Sunday, that’s all. You always have another shot. You’re never out of it until it’s four to something.” . . . Counting the regular season and the playoffs, the Rockets are 42-5 this season at the Summit. But since 1980, the Lakers are 14-1 on the Rockets’ home court. . . . The Spurs, who are looking for a new coach since Cotton Fitzsimmons was fired, have interviewed Denver assistant coach Allen Bristow. Spur owner Angelo Drossos reportedly favors former 76er Doug Collins, who once was an assistant at Arizona State. . . . In the playoffs, Michael Cooper is shooting better from three-point distance, 47.1%, than from two-point range, 44.4%.