Warriors Beat Lakers Up and Down, 116-106

This was the season the Lakers were supposed to have the Pacific Division all to themselves.

Coach Jack Ramsay was gone from Portland. General Manager Lenny Wilkens and half the roster, including Jack Sikma, had split from Seattle. Phoenix was feeble, the Clippers even worse.

So who did that leave?

None other than the Golden State Warriors, who merely had missed the playoffs for the last nine seasons, and who won just 30 games last season.

The Warriors brought in a new owner, Jim Fitzgerald; a new coach, George Karl, and a new scoreboard in the Oakland Coliseum Arena, but the same old results were expected.

That, however, may be changing, as the Lakers rudely discovered Thursday night, when the Warriors beat them, 116-106, for their sixth straight win.

The Warriors led by 8 at the end of one quarter, by 18 at halftime and by 14 at the end of three periods, before Magic Johnson led a late Laker charge.

“They’re for real,” said Laker Coach Pat Riley of the Warriors, who were ahead by as many as 21 points, 61-40, in the first half.

“They were beating us up and down the floor. I thought we’d be the quicker team, but it looked like we were stuck in mud.”

Joe Barry Carroll led the Warriors with 25 points, including a 10-foot turnaround jumper on an out-of-bounds play with five seconds left on the shot clock.

That basket gave Golden State a 112-103 lead with 1:29 to play, negating Johnson’s 14 points in the final quarter.

Chris Mullin, the former St. John’s star, had 22 points, and Eric (Sleepy) Floyd had 21. Floyd also had 13 assists and 4 steals for the Warriors, who handed the Lakers their worst defeat since their opening-day 10-point loss in Houston.

The Lakers, who shot just 33% (16 of 48) in the first half, were led by Johnson with 28 points. James Worthy and Byron Scott each had 19, but both had off shooting nights, Worthy making just 8 of 19 shots, Scott 8 of 17.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who took just one shot in the first half, a tip-in, finished with 17 points.

“They had everybody sagging on me,” Abdul-Jabbar said, “including the Warrior girls.”

He complained during the game that the Warriors were playing a zone.

“I don’t think it was legal,” Abdul-Jabbar said as he made a typically quick exit from the dressing room. “But George (Karl) has them cover it up well enough to make it legal.”

There was no covering up the Laker breakdowns, which were as conspicuous as Cab Calloway, the jazz legend, mangling the lyrics to the national anthem before the game.

“It took a while for us to see what was coming at us,” said Johnson, who was hounded by Ben McDonald, the former UC Irvine star, for most of the night.

“And we missed so many shots we usually make.”

Johnson sat on the bench for an unusually long stretch in the second quarter, when the Warriors broke the game open with an 18-4 run, expanding a 43-36 lead to 59-40.

“It looked as though Magic was a step slow,” Riley said. “McDonald was doing a good job of banging him and bumping him in the front court.

“In this type of game, Earvin’s got to play a slashing, driving game, as he did in the second half. He’s human, you know.’

And the Warriors, even without leading scorer Purvis Short, are playing like they’re legitimate contenders.

“They did a good job of congesting the middle,” Worthy said. “They had four people in there sometimes.

“Our post-up players have got to get the ball out quickly when they do. We had a lot of shots in the first half that weren’t falling.”

And when they didn’t, the Lakers took a fall, only their third loss this season.

“We know now they’re a good team,” Scott said. “Our attitude the next time will be different.”

That next time comes soon, too--Sunday at the Forum.

“Two days--that’s all,” Scott said.

The Warriors can wait.

“This game was no statement at all,” said Warrior forward Greg Ballard, who made 7 of 11 shots off the bench for 14 points.

“But I do believe if we stay healthy, we can make the playoffs.”