Kareem Does His Number : He Scores 30 Points; Lakers Win, 121-109

The Lakers’ own personal Tower Report Friday night included these numbers from their ageless wonder, 7-foot 2-inch center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: A season-high 30 points on 14-of-16 shooting.

Abdul-Jabbar’s big night and the return of Magic Johnson added up to a 121-109 victory over the Golden State Warriors before a crowd of 17,505 at the Forum. It was the Lakers’ 13th sellout in 27 home games.

Johnson, who missed two games because of tendinitis in his left Achilles’ tendon, put together his fourth triple-double of the season and said afterward it’s no accident that Abdul-Jabbar has again become a focal point of the offense.

With an eye toward the playoffs, Johnson said: “We need to get him a little bit more involved. It’s the stretch run now and we want to get him ready.”

After leading the Lakers in scoring for 11 straight seasons, Abdul-Jabbar is third this season behind Johnson and James Worthy with an 18-point average.

He is playing fewer minutes and, conversely, shooting less.

But in the Lakers’ last six games, he has averaged 22.5 points.

Against the Warriors, he scored 15 in each half as the Lakers won their sixth straight game.

“Whatever we can get from him is great,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said.

With Johnson on the sideline in the Lakers’ consecutive victories over Phoenix Tuesday and Wednesday nights, Riley said: “We wanted to pound the ball inside because we were missing the 25 from Earvin.”

And Abdul-Jabbar, he said, is “working for position and is more assertive with his shot.”

Abdul-Jabbar’s increased production kept the Lakers close against the Warriors until they put together an 11-0 run midway through the third quarter to take the lead for good.

It was 96-87 at the end of the quarter, and the Laker Girls seemed to be sending a message to the Warriors when they performed to Run-DMC’s “You Be Illin’.”

No kidding.

The Lakers are 38-1 in games they’ve led after three quarters and 23-0 against teams with losing records.

The Warriors didn’t have a losing record the last time they played the Lakers, but they’ve been caught in a downward spiral since mid-January.

Six games above .500 on Jan. 18, they are 5-14 since.

Strangely, their struggles have continued despite the return of Purvis Short, who missed 33 games after tearing cartilage in his left knee.

The Warriors were 18-15 without Short, their leading scorer last season and No. 3 this season, but are 5-11 since his return.

Coach George Karl said last week that the Warriors, who had been looking almost exclusively to Joe Barry Carroll and Eric (Sleepy) Floyd for their offensive production in Short’s absence, have had trouble adjusting to Short’s presence.

They seemed to be in sync Friday night, with Carroll scoring 24 points, Short getting 18 and Floyd contributing 17 points and 11 assists.

But they were hampered by the absence of their leading rebounder, Larry Smith, who sat out the game with a bruised and swollen big right toe.

Without Smith, the Warriors played an open-court game, relying heavily on their outside shooting.

It worked well through the first 2 1/2 quarters.

They led through much of the first half, due mainly to Chris Mullin, who scored 18 of his 20 points in the first 24 minutes, making 9 of 13 shots.

But the Lakers, never behind by more than six points as Abdul-Jabbar reached double figures for the 750th straight game early in the second quarter, caught the Warriors at 45-45 on a three-point shot by Michael Cooper.

The Lakers led at halftime, 60-57, after outscoring the Warriors, 5-0.

Then, during a two-minute stretch of the third quarter that began with the score tied at 76-76, the Lakers put together an 11-0 run that ended with a steal and breakaway dunk by Byron Scott.

“When you try to outshoot a great team from the perimeter on its home court, you’re playing with dynamite,” Karl said.

Golden State never recovered, although it did pull within 102-100 with 6:10 left.

The Lakers then put together an 11-5 run that included five points and two assists by Johnson, whose 76th career triple-double included 21 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists.

“I thought we just froze,” Karl said. “It looked like we were a little tired and didn’t react as well in the fourth quarter.”

Johnson, who hadn’t played since last Sunday, said he felt like an outsider watching the Lakers’ victories over Phoenix.

“I like to play,” he said.

As an active participant against the Warriors, he said he felt no pain in his tendon.

“You block out everything in that situation,” he said. “You just go and make it happen.”

Which is what Abdul-Jabbar is doing as he approaches his 40th birthday April 16.

“It doesn’t really surprise me, what he’s doing,” Johnson said. “I’ve seen him do it all.

“What surprises me is that he’s in such great physical condition for his age. Nothing he does on the court surprises me.”

Laker Notes

Chick Hearn will broadcast his 2,000th consecutive Laker game tonight when the Lakers meet the Utah Jazz at Salt Lake City. Hearn, who will be honored at the Forum before Wednesday night’s game against Seattle, has not missed a Laker game since Nov. 20, 1965, when he broadcast an Arkansas-Texas Tech football game and couldn’t make it to Las Vegas that night for the Lakers’ game against San Francisco. . . . The Lakers will take a 20-10 road record, the NBA’s best, into tonight’s game, then will close out their season series with Golden State Tuesday night at Oakland before returning home to play Seattle Wednesday night. . . . The Lakers, limited to fewer than 100 points in consecutive victories over Phoenix Tuesday and Wednesday nights, haven’t scored fewer than 100 in three straight games since 1976. . . . Friday was James Worthy’s 26th birthday.