Lakers Misfire, Pistons Don’t, 119-114, Before 33,447 at Silverdome

Piston guard Isiah Thomas, the little man who can thread a pass through the eyelet of a big man’s sneaker, found the thread of a trend in Detroit’s 119-114 win over the Lakers Saturday night before a Silverdome crowd of 33,447, fifth-largest in Piston history.

“Unlike past years, there are really no great teams in the league this season,” Thomas said. “The Celtics? They were a great team, but they don’t have the bench strength.

“There are some very good teams, and one of them is going to win it. And we have the potential of developing into a very good team.”

The Lakers, obviously, fall something short of great in the eyes of the doubting Thomas, and they gave him no reason to believe otherwise Saturday, one night after they’d cashiered the Celtics’ Boston Garden home-court streak.

They allowed the Pistons to run up 70 first-half points, the most the Lakers have given anyone in 21 games this season, fell behind by 17 points in the second quarter and trailed wire-to-wire in losing for the second time in four games on this trip.

“It’s like when you spot someone in the 100-yard dash 40 yards,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said. “You’re going to have trouble winning.”

This was Magic Johnson’s homecoming, attended by at least 200 of his closest friends from Lansing, Mich.--and those were only the ones he left tickets for.

“I don’t know who’s going to pay for all those tickets,” a Piston official said.

Thomas is one of Magic’s buddies, too, but he made Johnson and the Lakers pay, scoring 23 points and dishing out 14 assists.

So did Piston guard Vinnie Johnson, who came off the bench to scorch the Lakers for a team-high 25 points. John Salley, the Pistons’ No. 1 draft choice, and Dennis Rodman, their second-round pick, also came off the bench to fire the Piston fast-break.

“If Magic wants to win at home, he ought to come back here and play for Detroit,” VJ said of EJ, who led the Lakers with 34 points after hitting just 2 of his first 11 shots.

Detroit only recently became home for Adrian Dantley, the high-scoring forward who wore out his welcome with Utah Coach Frank Layden and was swapped for Kelly Tripucka last summer.

For both Dantley and Detroit, the relationship is still in the feeling-out phase, although the Pistons are learning it’s good business to get the ball into Dantley’s hands when a game is winding down.

The Lakers, who had closed within four points, 81-77, late in the third quarter, only to have the Pistons answer with 11 straight points shortly thereafter, pulled within three, 115-112, when Michael Cooper hit a 16-footer with 1:22 to play.

The Pistons responded by isolating Dantley, who posted up James Worthy, then drove for a little five-foot bank shot in the lane.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was fouled and made two free throws to cut it to 117-114 with 59 seconds left, but Dantley, driving the baseline off a pretty Thomas feed, laid in another basket, restoring the five-point edge with what turned out to be the game’s final points.

“That’s something we’re learning how to do,” Thomas said. “We’re learning how to exploit him the way the Lakers exploit Kareem.

“I’m finding out it’s much easier to control the tempo of a game when you have a guy who can score like that.

“When we’re not going good on the fast break, I just slow it down and punch it in to him.”

Another Piston newcomer, forward Sidney Green, acquired in a trade from Chicago, gives Detroit more strength up front. He also gave Magic Johnson an elbow to the nose, which had Johnson throwing a towel in disgust during a subsequent timeout.

“It wasn’t intentional,” Green said. “I was just going for the rebound all-out. I could have hit one of my teammates just as well.”

The Lakers didn’t hit much of anything Saturday, making only 44.4% of their shots, 1 of 9 from three-point range.

“We made a great comeback,” Riley said, “but sometimes I wonder where the energy is at the beginning of the game as it was in the fourth period.”

Laker Notes

The Pistons had lost by one point to Washington Friday night, on a basket by Moses Malone in the last two seconds. “I was way down, it was a rough night,” Detroit Coach Chuck Daly said. “I watched the Boston-L.A. tape until about 2:30, then Bob Cousy came on the Roy Firestone show.” Did the Laker tape make him feel any better? “I was scared to death,” he said. “Then I didn’t get any sleep.” . . . Daly, on rookie forwards John Salley and Dennis Rodman: “Salley and Rodman, over the last 2 1/2 weeks, have been playing great. That’s the way they were playing in preseason. When they got to center stage, they forgot their lines for about a month, but now they’re playing with confidence.” . . . Magic Johnson was reminded that it had been 10 years since he graduated from high school (Everett) in Lansing, Mich. “I can’t believe it myself,” he said, “but it seems like almost yesterday I was playing for Everett and Michigan State. I remember every moment right now.” . . . Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had raised some doubt about his ability to play on consecutive nights after his 10-point game in Milwaukee, scored 18 points and out-rebounded Bill Laimbeer, the league’s leading rebounder, 11-7.