Abdul-Jabbar Well-Rested as Lakers Hit the Road for 8 of Next 9 Games

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played only 26 minutes in the Lakers’ 132-100 win over the Golden State Warriors Sunday night, and sat out the entire fourth quarter.

He enjoyed the rest. He also may need it, as the Lakers begin a stretch of eight out of their next nine games on the road, including four in five nights, beginning tonight against the New York Knicks.

For now, the Laker backups to the 39-year-old Abdul-Jabbar are Frank Brickowski and Mike Smrek, although the search for more help continues.

“We’ve got guys we can put out there,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “There’s no problem with my stamina or anything.

“This doesn’t have to be a bad situation. We’ll see what happens.”

Someone the Lakers won’t be seeing, unless he happens to be in the stands, is Hubie Brown, who was fired as Knick coach last week.

Brown’s replacement was his assistant, Bob Hill, who has no illusions about taking over a team that has won a total of 47 games in the last two seasons.

“They’re human beings,” Hill said recently. “They’ve been beaten for two years, and I think unconsciously it can become habitual. I think they want to win, but we don’t know how to win anymore, and that’s the lesson we have to learn.”

The Knicks already have lost once this season to the Lakers, 111-88, Nov. 9 in the Forum. James Worthy had 22 points and Magic Johnson 15 assists for the Lakers. Rory Sparrow and Patrick Ewing led the Knicks with 14 points apiece.