Magic, Lakers Get It Over With Early, 147-115

Mychal Thompson may have been with them for just a little more than half a season, but he still had fun while with the San Antonio Spurs, a team the Lakers toyed with Friday night, 147-115, for their ninth straight win before a sellout crowd of 17,505 at the Forum.

Before he left, Thompson gave his teammates all new identities. Alvin Robertson became Alvin and the Chipmunks, “because everybody in the backcourt is so little.”

Larry Krystowiak became Eb, after the character in “Green Acres.” Johnny Dawkins was Chicken Hawk, “because he looks like one.” Walter Berry became Black Berry “because he’s black and a Berry, no mystery to that.”

With the Lakers, Thompson can’t be as freewheeling.

“I had to tone it down a bit,” Thompson said. “I’ve got the sense of humor of George Shultz right now. That’s real serious.”

But given the choice between sacrificing a few one-liners and playing for the team with the best record in the National Basketball Asnn. (53-14) with 15 games to go, it’s no contest.

“I’d definitely rather be on the end of the bench discussing world politics with Buck (Magic Johnson),” Thompson said.

“We’ve got the same sort of goals.”

Wait a minute: Thompson has said he wants to be prime minister of the Bahamas when he retires. Does this mean Johnson--who retired to the bench with 44 seconds left in the third quarter after 20 points and 11 assists--wants to be the first black president of the United States?

“No, I don’t think so, not here,” Thompson said. “Not even Bill Cosby can do that. There’s not that many liberals here, if you know what I mean.”

If this were an election, the Lakers would be heavy favorites to win the New Hampshire primary the way they’re playing. Unfortunately, that’s about all the regular season is worth these days.

“The easiest thing to do now would be to coast, but if they mean what they’ve said and have talked about this season, they won’t let that happen,” said Laker Coach Pat Riley, who was serenaded with a chorus of “Happy Birthday” from the Forum crowd, then was doused with a bucketful of popcorn in the Laker locker room afterward.

“They hit me from behind,” Riley said of the popcorn attack. “Then when I turned around nobody said anything. But I suspect the tall, skinny kid from New Mexico (Michael Cooper).”

The Lakers were stumbling more than coasting in the game’s first few minutes, but shortly after Riley called time out, they ran off 17 straight points and never looked back.

The lead was 15, 64-49, at the half, and then the Lakers poured it on in a 83-point second half, 43 points in a fourth quarter played almost entirely by reserves.

With one forward, Mike Mitchell, in a drug rehabilitation center, and another, David Greenwood, at the end of the bench with a bruised big toe, and both Lakers they obtained in the trade for Thompson--Frank Brickowski and Petur Gudmundsson out of action with injuries, the Spurs figured to get pounded on the boards.

This, however, was ridiculous: The Lakers outrebounded them, 57-27, holding the Spurs to their season low. A.C. Green had a career-high 17 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive boards, one fewer than the Spurs had.

Cooper had 8 rebounds, all on the defensive end, and Kurt Rambis had 7 in 22 minutes off the bench.

Outmanned?

“That goes for every team right now,” Thompson said. “We’re on a roll right now, playing really well. Buck individually is playing as well as some teams in the league.”

While Magic was still in there, he registered the 6,000th assist of his career when he set up Byron Scott--who led the Lakers with 22 points--for a three-pointer. Johnson became the ninth player in NBA history to break 6,000, which still leaves him almost 4,000 behind record-holder Oscar Robertson (9,887), not to mention 43 behind ex-teammate Norm Nixon (6,047).

But there was hardly a let-up even after Johnson departed.

“Their second five would be a very competitive team in the NBA,” marveled Spurs rookie Anthony Jones.

Berry, another San Antonio rookie, led the Spurs with 26 points, but in Coach Bob Weiss’ judgment, he still had a “bad” night.

“(When) we were out of it, he started making some shots,” Weiss said. “He was 5 for 13 in the first half, but probably four were dunks and most were usually shots he makes and he didn’t.”

But while the Spurs may not have Thompson anymore, they have gained a celebrity, though not quite on a par with the Lakers’ No. 1 fan, Jack Nicholson, who was back in his familiar perch after being away months while working on a new movie.

Charlie Sheen, star of the movie “Platoon,” recently spent five days in San Antonio hanging out with Brickowski. “We’re good buddies,” Brickowski said.

Sheen, of course, is a regular at Laker games, too. Perhaps either he or Brickowski could have shown Dawkins the way to the dressing room after the game. The team’s No. 1 draft pick took a wrong turn down a Forum tunnel before being pointed in the right direction.

“That about sums up their night,” Thompson said.