Worthy Takes Off-Day in His Enormous Stride : Sunday’s Performance Isn’t Up to His Usual High Standard in Boston Garden

A mystique died Sunday, but for the Lakers, it was the wrong one.

James Worthy, their resident King of Boston Garden, the most accurate shooter in NBA playoff history, had what you might call a slow day. He missed jump shots, layups and one dunk. He put up bricks, cinder blocks and craters. He also led the team in turnovers.

His mother might have told him there would be days like this, but she didn’t say any of them would be on national television.

“The ball just wasn’t falling,” said Worthy, amiable as ever after shooting 6 for 18 from the floor in the Lakers’ 109-103 loss.

“I hit my first couple and I got some good shots after that. When it’s not falling like that, you’ve just got to hope they fall eventually. You’ve just got to keep shooting.

“Frustrating? Yes it is. Particularly coming this far when you’ve been playing OK. You hate to have a game like this but I guess I can’t dwell on it. I’ve got to go on to Game 4 and hope this doesn’t carry over.”

If a funk goes before a slump, he’s OK. Worthy was as calm after Sunday’s game as he is after one of those 16 for 23s, like the one he posted in Game 1.

Was this an upset?

Big-time.

He started the day as the leading Laker scorer in this post-season with a 25-point average. He was the most accurate of them at 63.9%. His career playoff percentage--59.3--was the highest in NBA history. In the storied Garden, where young players are supposed to be slack-jawed, he had a 21.0 playoff average and was shooting 58.9%. (In the game in which he committed the biggest blunder of his career, the pass that Gerald Henderson intercepted to turn the ’84 finals around, Worthy scored 29 points, shooting 11 for 12).

He made his first three shots Sunday and four of his first five.

After that, things kind of degenerated for him.

On the plus side, he didn’t back off. He kept firing. A scorer who can’t, won’t be a scorer long in this league.

On the minus side, he kept missing.

“I don’t feel like I’ve got to take over individually, but you never stop shooting,” Worthy said. “If you’ve got the shot, you’ve got to take it. I kept on shooting but nothing fell, hardly. They’ll fall. They’ll fall eventually.”

Oh, and Worthy was playing Larry Bird, who missed six of his first seven shots and then exploded. Bird knocked down 8 of his next 10 and this series had taken a new turn of its own.

“I thought we played just as aggressively as we had been,” Worthy said. “I don’t know what it looked like. As far as we’re concerned, we were still switching on defense, bumping over the top. They shot well that quarter.

“Were we overconfident? I think we learned that lesson three years ago. That (speculation about sweeping) is something we have no control of. We have to go out and play. Nobody knows how hard it is but us.

“I’ve had some consecutive good games. It all doesn’t have to come to an end but sooner or later, you know you’re not going to score so many points. I don’t think I was effective as I’d have like to have been today but I got the same shots, right in the same area. Maybe I was rushing myself. I’ve just got to get back to being poised.

“Early in my career, it might have affected me. But I’ve seen great players, great scorers have those days when they’re just not hitting those shots. You just go on to the next game.”

Maybe Worthy’s game has changed in the past season. Maybe it took the Celtics a while to figure out they’d better try something else and fast?

Maybe they figured they’d better do something about that incredible first step of his?

“James wasn’t beating guys right away after his first step,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said. “He didn’t get a lot of easy shots, the baskets on the break. They were probably a little more concerned with coming at him on the dribble. There wasn’t much room inside. They gave a lot of help.

“They haven’t seen him much since last February (the second of the teams’ two meetings). You become very familiar with players in your own conference but when you don’t see a guy, you go ‘I remember he was quick but I didn’t think he was that quick.’ Maybe it took a couple of games to realize just how much James has changed.’ ”

Now they know, and he knows, and they know he knows. Everyone tees it up again Tuesday night to see who remembers his lessons the longest.