Lakers Beaten by Bucks; Magic’s Knee Is Beat Up

When Magic Johnson crashed to the floor on a drive through Milwaukee traffic Wednesday night in the Lakers’ 116-93 loss to the Bucks, Laker Coach Pat Riley said he didn’t give it a second thought.

“He falls down so much--the way he drives, he hits the deck more than anybody in the league,” Riley said. It wasn’t until after Riley called a timeout that he noticed Johnson had remained on the floor, clutching his right knee with one hand while covering his eyes with the other.

As trainer Gary Vitti rushed onto the floor, Riley fought to remain calm. So did Johnson, for whom the scene was frighteningly familiar.

“When you hurt something such as the knee, especially for me, you always think about the worst, and hope it’s not that,” Johnson said. “The pain, at that particular time, was throbbing.”

For now, at least, the Lakers are saying it isn’t the worst, certainly nothing to compare to the torn cartilage in his left knee that caused him to miss 45 games in his second season.

Johnson suffered a bruised right kneecap, according to an initial examination by Dr. David Haskell, the Bucks’ team physician. The Laker guard was sent to the hospital after the game for precautionary X-rays, which proved negative.

Johnson said he didn’t believe the injury was as serious as the one he incurred last season, when he bumped his right knee on Phoenix forward Larry Nance and missed seven games.

This time, Johnson banged knees with Buck center Jack Sikma with just under 10 minutes left in the third quarter and the Lakers trailing, 56-47. Johnson, who had the ball to the left of the lane, cut across the middle, went up with a short shot that missed as he made contact with Sikma, then tumbled to the floor.

“I think he (Sikma) tried to cut me off,” said Johnson, who limped off the court with Vitti’s assistance, then sat at the end of the bench with an icepack on the knee.

“He didn’t get all of the knee, though. Just the top part. That was good.”

After his collision with Nance last season, Johnson sat out one game, played the next three, then sat out another six. He said he hopes to play in Boston Friday night against the Celtics.

“It’s hard to say now, because right now it’s sore and throbbing,” he said. “But I’ll do everything I can to be back. I like that old building (the Boston Garden).

“And it’s a big game for us. I want to see us and know where we are--I want to be there to find out, so I can make my own analysis.”

The first report passed along press row was that Johnson might return against the Bucks, who forced the Lakers into a ghastly 24 turnovers and outrebounded them, 47-33, while running their own home record to a league-best 9-0.

But that was never a possibility, Johnson said later, except late in the game, when he realized that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was in danger of scoring fewer than 10 points, which would have ended his consecutive double-figure scoring streak at an NBA record 714 games.

“You know, I almost got up,” Johnson said. “Most guys don’t know him like I know him, can give him the ball like I do.”

Abdul-Jabbar, who didn’t score his first basket until the game was seven minutes into the second quarter, got his 10 points barely, while making just 4 of 15 shots.

Riley wouldn’t take him out of the game until after Abdul-Jabbar scored two straight layups with less than three minutes to go.

“I’ve never felt so relieved to see a guy score a basket with two minutes to go,” Riley said. “I’m not the coach who’s going to break his streak, I’ll tell you that.

“Everybody’s conscious of it. During a time out, I said, ‘Do you realize what’s happening over here? Billy Thompson, you weren’t even born when he started that streak, do you understand?’

“He said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Then keep throwing the ball inside.’ ”

Buck center Sikma, who played only 20 minutes because of foul trouble (he eventually fouled out), said he couldn’t recall Abdul-Jabbar having a tougher time.

“I know that was as good a job as I’ve seen a team do in making every one of his shots real tough, whether it was a baseline jumper or the hook,” said Sikma, one of a troika of centers used by Milwaukee Coach Don Nelson. Randy Breuer and Paul Mokeski were the others.

“We always had somebody dropping back on him, fronting him . . . he never did get comfortable with taking the hook. There was always somebody there.”

The night before in New York, against the Knicks, Abdul-Jabbar had one of his best offensive nights this season, scoring 20 points on 8 of 14 shooting.

But Wednesday, the Lakers had a 5 a.m. wake-up call, a 6 a.m. bus to the airport and an hour delay on the flight to Milwaukee. That’s hard on anybody. The suspicion, underscored by Abdul-Jabbar’s performance Wednesday, is that it’s harder when you’re 39 years old and have played 18 seasons.

Sikma, eight years younger than Abdul-Jabbar, isn’t drawing that conclusion yet.

“Everybody wants to write him off after back-to-backers on the road,” he said. “Tonight, there were a lot of guys a lot younger than him who had trouble, too.”

Johnson also said it was too soon to tell.

“Let’s wait for another one, then make a conclusion,” he said. “Let’s see what happens Friday and Saturday (when the Lakers play in Boston and Detroit).

“I don’t think it’s fair to say after this one. We’ve got another tough one.”

Johnson, of course, is still only 27. But after seven-plus seasons in the NBA, his knees are as scarred as the rings of an oak tree.

“My knees are probably about 40--at least 35,” he said with a little smile after being visited by injured Buck star Sidney Moncrief, another victim in the battle of wounded knee.

“But if something happens, I can’t do anything about it. I’m driving, and I’ll keep on driving. And if I keep hitting it, I keep hitting it. I can’t stop the way I play.”

Neither, the Lakers hope, will his knees.

Laker Notes Milwaukee became the first team to hold the Lakers under 100 points this season, and the 23-point margin of victory was the biggest against the Lakers since a 127-104 loss to Dallas in the regular-season finale last spring. . . . Milwaukee forward Paul Pressey had a triple-double, with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. “Paul Pressey had a game tonight that players dream about,” said Buck guard Craig Hodges, who scored 17 points, including consecutive three-pointers that turned a 10-point lead into a 16-point spread, 74-58, in the third quarter. “He hit the open shot, passed great and played some terrific defense.” . . . James Worthy had 24 points and Byron Scott 17 for the Lakers, who got only four points from starting forward A.C. Green and three from Michael Cooper coming off the bench. The Lakers actually led, 15-6, before Milwaukee went on a 13-4 tear to tie the score, then never was headed. “We were never in it mentally,” Coach Pat Riley said. “Their traps and defense are the most disruptive in the NBA.” . . . Kareem Abdul-Jabbar left quickly after the game, but did say this to reporters: “They defensed us well and trapped and did an excellent job. Physical play seemed to work for them. I felt a lot of calls didn’t get called that should have been. Then they got the lead and Magic got hurt.”