Magic Throws In Miracle 80-Footer as Lakers Romp

How numbered are the Denver Nuggets’ days in the National Basketball Assn. playoffs? First, remember that the Nuggets lost three times to the Clippers this season.

And judging by the Lakers’ 128-95 win over the Nuggets Thursday night, you won’t need a calendar. They ought to last somewhere between James Worthy’s hang time and the 24-second clock, especially if Magic Johnson throws in any more 80-footers.

If it were up to Coach Doug Moe, the Nuggets would already be on a plane to Denver.

“I’m going home tonight,” said Moe, even though the schedule dictates that the teams meet at least twice more in the best-of-five first round.

“We wouldn’t show up Saturday if the league would let us. Are you kidding me?”

The Lakers obviously weren’t, especially in a playoff record-tying 82-point first half, which ended with Johnson’s overhand fastball from the opposite end of the court, a few feet shy of the Nuggets’ free throw line.

Johnson rebounded an air ball shot by Denver’s Bill Hanzlik, took a couple of steps to his right and let fly.

“I saw Fernando Valenzuela pitch last night--I stole it out of one of his books,” said Johnson, who may have watched the Dodger left-hander but made his full-court pitch right-handed.

The shot was so stunning that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar mistakenly credited himself with an assist on the play.

“I just flipped him the ball and thought we’d just walk off the court,” said Abdul-Jabbar, who never handled the ball on the play. “Then when he shot it, I said, ‘Hey, that looks good.’ ”

The Forum crowd of 17,505 stood cheering for nearly a full minute after the Lakers left the court following Johnson’s shot. The fans should have taken that for their cue to head for the parking lots, for all that happened thereafter.

By that time, the Lakers had an 82-53 lead, and Worthy had made his first nine shots en route to a game-high 28-point performance. The Nuggets ran four different players at the Laker forward, to no avail.

When the Lakers called time out while leading, 36-23, nine minutes into the game, Worthy (13 points) and Byron Scott (12) had outscored the Nuggets by themselves. Only three quick fouls kept Scott, who finished with 17 points, including two three-pointers, from matching Worthy point for point.

A.C. Green had 16 points at halftime, Johnson and Scott a dozen each. The Lakers shot 67.3% in the first half and would have broken the halftime scoring record set by San Antonio against--surprise--the Nuggets in 1983 if Johnson had made his free throws.

Magic was 1 for 6 at the line in the first half.

“But that shot made up for all those misses,” Cooper said.

The way things went for the Nuggets in the first half, a deadpan Moe said he wasn’t surprised by Johnson’s special delivery.

“Magic told me he knew it was going in when it left his hand,” Moe said.

Moe had been telling anyone who would listen before the playoffs started that the Nuggets had no chance.

“Cut the crap, who thought I was kidding,” Moe said. “ . . . I don’t think one person here thought we’d go more than three games, but if I say it I’m dumb.

“They’re too good. The only thing that upset me was that we stunk. I don’t mind getting blown out, but what ticked me off is that we played (bleep).”

The Lakers’ biggest lead of the night was 48 points, 112-64, with 2:51 left in the third quarter, before the Nuggets reeled off 13 straight points.

All 12 Lakers played, and if Adrian Branch (0 for 5) and Mike Smrek (0 for 4) had been able to make a shot, all of them would have scored.

“Want to hear something funny,” Moe said before leaving the postgame press conference. “Ask Pat (Riley) if he’s worried about us?”

Sure enough, the Laker coach mentioned last season’s playoff ouster against Houston and intoned the usual blandishments against getting too complacent.

“We found out last year after Houston, when we exhaled and got beat,” Riley said. “They’re capable of doing that.”

The Nuggets? Don’t hold your breath. Moe isn’t.

“We were going to win this game and go into a three-day strut,” Moe said, “but we got our butts kicked, so unfortunately we’re going to have to practice tomorrow instead.

“And they (the Nuggets) have got to watch the game. That’s the worst part.”

For their part, the Lakers get to relive Magic’s shot--one, incidentally, that he said he’s made in practice before.

“Everything is possible when he has the ball,” Worthy said. “He has willpower--he willed the ball into the basket. . . . That’s why he’s Magic.”

Laker Notes No Laker played more than 29 minutes, which is how long James Worthy lasted. Worthy also had 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played just 20 minutes and scored 13 points with 7 rebounds. Magic Johnson had 16 points, 14 assists and 7 rebounds. A.C. Green finished with 20 points, including one fast-break basket when he managed to tiptoe over a fallen Alex English and toss in an underhand scoop shot. . . . Blair Rasmussen had 26 points to lead the Nuggets, 18 of those points coming in the second half. . . . Could Abdul-Jabbar remember garbage time coming so early in a playoff game? “Never,” he said. . . . Magic’s 80-footer reminded Abdul-Jabbar of Jerry West’s 60-foot shot in the 1970 final against the New York Knicks, which sent a game into overtime. Abdul-Jabbar was a little hazy on the details, though. He said he was in the stands for West’s shot, which he said came in his senior year at UCLA. Actually, the shot came after Abdul-Jabbar’s rookie season in the NBA.

Mychal Thompson dismissed Doug Moe’s desire for a forfeit. “He’s one of the best con men in the NBA,” Thompson said. “He’s wasting his time here. He should be in Vegas.” . . . A cautionary note for those banking on a Laker sweep of the Nuggets: In the 1984-85 Western Conference finals, the Lakers beat Denver, 139-122, in the first game, then lost the second, 136-114. “Any time you have a blowout victory, you can’t laugh or they’ll come back and bite you,” Abdul-Jabbar said. . . . The question of whether Abdul-Jabbar would shake hands with Denver captain Alex English before the game was rendered moot when there was no pregame meeting between captains, for some reason. No explanation was given by the officials.