Lakers Hold On, Win 9th in Row

Pat Riley would like to take credit for the idea, but Friday night the Lakers invented a way to stay interested, although the playoffs are still two weeks away.

It worked like this: Build a 20-point lead in the first 9:40, then see how close you can come to losing it and still win the game.

“I’d like to say I’m smart enough to plan it that way,” said Riley after the Lakers’ 131-121 win over the San Antonio Spurs before a sellout crowd of 17,505 at the Forum. “That’s what they call good coaching, isn’t it?”

The win was the Lakers’ ninth straight and 63rd of the season, guaranteeing them their second-best record ever, surpassed only by the 1971-72 Lakers, who went 69-13. It was also their 14th straight victory at home, where they have a 36-3 record.

The Spurs, meanwhile, were losing their eighth straight, tying a club record.

And you wonder why the Lakers needed an attention-grabber to stay in this one? It was either that, or seeing how many Lakers could spell the name of San Antonio rookie Larry Krystkowiak.

“You could probably bet everyone here and you’d win,” said Magic Johnson, when offered a five-dollar wager to see if he could keep his K’s straight.

“Before Riles said it, I didn’t even know the pronunciation of his name. I thought it was Krystowney or something. I was saying it wrong.”

Krystkowiak, a 6-foot 10-inch forward from the University of Montana, showed he was more than a tongue-twister Friday night by coming off the bench to score 24 points, matching his previous best.

But while the proper spelling was something less than academic for Johnson, as usual there was nothing wrong with his game: 18 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds, his 11th triple double of the season and fifth in the last eight games.

Johnson didn’t figure to stay in the game long enough to get another triple, not after the Lakers opened a 31-11 lead with 2:20 left in the first quarter.

But the Spurs, who started 6-9 David Greenwood at center, closed within 112-111 with 6:02 left. If that wasn’t enough to cause the Lakers to pay heed, the physical play of Spur guards Johnny Moore and Alvin Robertson was impossible to overlook.

Especially for Magic and Michael Cooper, who exchanged bumps and barbs on several occasions with the Spur backcourt tandem.

“It got pretty much hand-to-hand in the game,” Riley said. “It wasn’t dirty, just very aggressive. . . . I sort of liked what happened.”

At one point, Cooper, trying to fight through an embrace from Roberston, appeared to smack the Spur guard squarely in the back.

Cooper pleaded innocent. “Never took a swing,” he said. “He was blocking me, we got tangled, and our arms went up.”

Come on, Coop. You sure there wasn’t even a love tap?

“They only have love taps on the ‘Love Connection,’ ” he said.

Maybe something out of a Bruce Lee movie, then?

“Now you’re talking about something I’m not into--martial arts,” Cooper said.

Cooper quickly demonstrated he was into the game, however, by busting down the middle for a layup and drawing a foul, converting the free throw for a three-point play that made it 115-111, Lakers.

After Johnson forced Moore into a traveling violation, Cooper took a pass from Magic and made a 17-footer, then followed that with a 20-footer from the baseline. The Laker lead was six, and the Spurs never got closer than four thereafter.

Someone suggested to Cooper, who finished with 14 points and 6 assists, that he ought to bring boxing gloves next time out.

“If that’s what it takes to win, I’ll use ‘em,” he said.

“We’re getting close to the playoffs, and emotions are starting to fly. I’m definitely ready.

“I want to keep the second unit going. We’ve faltered in the past. We haven’t been sustaining the effort of the starters, and that’s been a problem in the past.”

James Worthy led the Lakers with 24 points despite missing half of his free throws (4 of 8). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and A.C. Green had 17 points apiece, with Green also grabbing 14 rebounds. Byron Scott had 15 points, but the night’s most stunning numbers belonged to Kurt Rambis, who had a perfect shooting night: 4 of 4 shots, 4 of 4 free throws, 12 points in 13 minutes.

San Antonio’s Robertson and Moore, who shot a combined 1 for 11 in the first half and had no assists between them, finished with 19 and 17 points, respectively. They also had 4 steals apiece.

“They feel they’re the best guards; we feel we’re the best, and this was like, ‘Let’s go out and see,’ ” Johnson said. “They’re known for their steals and being aggressive; we’re known for what we can do.

“We needed something to keep us going. I’m glad they came in here the way they did.”

Laker Notes

Spur rookie Walter Berry startled more than a few observers when he bolted off the court during a Laker 20-second timeout with 3:37 left in the third quarter. He also cost the Spurs a timeout when Coach Bob Weiss was forced to make a substitution. It turned out that Berry had taken sick to his stomach and needed to make a quick trip to the restroom, though he returned a couple of minutes later. “We didn’t know what was going on,” Magic Johnson said. “We just saw him run off. We thought he was hurt or something.” He couldn’t recall the Lakers ever being forced to make a substitution under similar circumstances. . . . San Antonio guard Alvin Robertson said he wasn’t aware that Michael Cooper struck him in the back until teammates on the bench told him. “I asked him about it and he said he’s not a cheap-shot artist,” Robertson said. . . . Laker Coach Pat Riley was asked if Cooper, a big boxing fan, thought he was Marvelous Marvin Hagler or Sugar Ray Leonard. “Both,” Riley said. “He thinks he’s a puncher and a boxer.” Said Cooper: “That’s right.”