Lakers, Magic Accept the Challenge in Fourth Quarter and Win, 115-101

It’s next to impossible for the Lakers, pro basketball’s most glamorous team, to face an impassive opponent or an indifferent crowd. At Capital Centre Sunday, before a screaming sellout house of 19,411 and confronted by the pumped-up Washington Bullets, the Lakers came away with yet another victory, 115-101.

Guard Earvin (Magic) Johnson scored 26 points, 13 in the fourth quarter, and had 10 assists as the Lakers improved to an NBA-best 29-8. Washington, now 19-19, was paced by guard Jeff Malone’s 27 points. Center Moses Malone scored 21 points with 10 rebounds, and forward Terry Catledge had 17 points and a career-high 20 rebounds for the Bullets.

Forward Charles Jones made an impressive contribution of 12 points, 5 blocked shots and 4 steals, yet the collective Washington effort wasn’t enough in a frantic, emotional contest matching the physical play of the Bullets against the freewheeling style of the Lakers.

“Everybody wants us. It’s sort of a ‘make our season’ situation for teams,” said Johnson. “Our guys love the challenge of it. They thrive on that whole ‘Beat L.A.’ thing.”

The Bullets, on the other hand, usually aren’t involved in this sort of game, with the pressure and tension mounting from the introduction of the players. Their inability to maintain their composure was a factor in the defeat.

Perhaps the turning point came with 8:26 remaining. The Lakers were ahead, 94-89, when Manute Bol blocked a shot by Los Angeles center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and then another by James Worthy.

Before the Lakers could get off a third attempt, the 24-second clock expired, the Bullets ready to take possession after the apparent violation. Before the Bullets could inbound the ball, however, Abdul-Jabbar and Los Angeles Coach Pat Riley exploded, arguing that the first shot of the sequence had hit the rim or the backboard, which would require the clock to be reset.

Official Earl Strom approached the scorer’s table and asked if the ball had hit the rim or backboard. He was told no, but ruled otherwise and awarded the ball to Los Angeles.

Washington Coach Kevin Loughery was furious and his anger increased when Johnson scored on a driving layup at the 8:15 mark. After a Bullets miss, Worthy made a jump shot to put the lead at 98-89 with 7:49 to play. Three seconds after that, Strom called Loughery for a technical foul.

Less than three minutes later, the referee whistled Loughery for another technical, automatically bringing his first ejection since he was named Bullets coach last March.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, this would have been just a 2 in my old days,” Loughery said. “When you’re playing a great team and a decision is made and changed, it has to be crucial. It changed the game, I think. They scored on the same sequence; it just opened up the game. It was a good call by Pat Riley.”

Riley countered that he just asked for a reset and that a bigger factor was “the uncertainty on the scorer’s table.” Strom said later the uncertainty indeed was the basis for his decision.

The Lakers went ahead by 106-91, but the Bullets were still able to fight back, to 109-100 with 2:43 left. That’s when the home team’s composure began to slip.

Catledge had a chance to complete a three-point play but missed the free throw. Less than a minute later, after each team missed a shot, guard Darwin Cook missed two free throws after a Lakers turnover.

On their next possession, the Lakers again threw the ball away, but Catledge missed a long jumper. That only set up another driving basket for Johnson, making the score 111-100 with 1:28 to play.

“They’ve got a great team and they threw a lot at us but we just didn’t score, we couldn’t get the ball in the basket,” said Jeff Malone. “You have to get back on defense, especially against the Lakers. We let Magic get too deep and make too many layups.”

The Bullets had actually done well to be as close as they were throughout the game. They trailed, 60-50, at halftime, largely because they made only 38% of their field-goal attempts, just 27% in the second quarter when they were outpointed, 37-19. In the final period, Washington made but 23%.

Still, the Bullets persevered because of their relentless crashing of the backboards, which not only gave them second opportunities but helped slow the Lakers’ vaunted fast break.

But, as the Bullets’ woeful shooting would attest, the Lakers are capable of playing some defense. “People talk about their great players and their fast break, but I think they have to be one of the most underrated defensive teams in the league,” Loughery said.

That is easy to overlook when you’re dazzled by Abdul-Jabbar’s courtly presence or Johnson’s end-to-end forays to the basket. Johnson, 10th in the league in scoring this season with 25 points per game, addressed his 13-point fourth quarter:

“I wasn’t as aggressive as I should have been early. I went back to the old ways of passing first and then looking to score. Ennis Whatley was doing a pretty good (defensive) job on me, too, but when it’s winning time I knew what I had to do.

“You get into that mode where you say, ‘He can’t stop me, so let’s go.’ ”