It Was Game to Savor, Over and Over : But the Payoff--NBA Title--Is on Line Tonight

It was nearly 5 in the morning Wednesday, but Michael and Wanda Cooper couldn’t turn off the videotape machine in their hotel room.

Over and over again, they watched. First, the entire game, then they pushed the rewind button, and it was the fourth quarter again, and Magic Johnson was making his game-winning hook shot and Larry Bird was missing his last-second bid to answer it.

Rewind once more, and James Worthy was coming up swinging at Greg Kite.

Finally, Michael Cooper, the Laker guard, went to bed, but Wanda kept watching. Lakers 107, Celtics 106, Game 4, National Basketball Assn. finals.

“The game of all ages,” she said.

While the Coopers watched TV, injured Celtic Bill Walton was at home, so depressed that for a while, he even shut off the sounds of his beloved Grateful Dead.

Celtic guard Danny Ainge couldn’t sleep. Laker Coach Pat Riley was too exhausted to do anything but go to bed after a brief visit with owner Jerry Buss. And when Celtic forward Kevin McHale awoke from his fitful sleep, he discovered he had snapping turtles in his swimming pool.

“The kids are grabbing my hands and saying, ‘You’ve got to get the snapping turtles out of the pool,’ ” McHale said.

“You kind of forget about the game. The task at hand is not Kareem, it’s snapping turtles.”

For the Boston Celtics, however, the task at hand tonight is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper and the rest of the Lakers, who are one game away from winning their fourth NBA title of the ‘80s. With a 3-1 lead, the Lakers can close out the Celtics in Game 5 tonight (Channel 2, 6 p.m.).

But on Wednesday, there was cause to push the pause button and savor what Wanda Cooper was willing to stay up all night to see time and again, even though only hours before, she couldn’t bear to stay in her seat at the Boston Garden.

There were 3 1/2 minutes to go, and the Lakers, who had rallied from 16 points behind to tie, had fallen back again by eight. Wanda Cooper, sitting with Anita Scott and Angela Worthy and Adrian Branch’s parents and Gary Vitti’s parents and Mychal Thompson’s brothers--two rows of Laker supporters in a green Boston Garden sea--walked out into the deserted lobby and sat on a bench.

“I had to get my composure,” she said. “There were fans around us taunting us, pointing at us, giving us the choke sign. I felt like blowing up.”

High above the Garden floor where the Laker wives were sitting, actor-Laker fan Jack Nicholson was the target of other taunters.

“There was one guy who was giving me the choke sign so hard, I almost sent for the paramedics,” Nicholson said. “He was wearing a gray T-shirt, and his face turned almost as gray as his shirt. I couldn’t believe it.”

Wanda Cooper took a deep breath and returned to her seat, just in time to witness what had once been considered unthinkable: The Celtics melting like butter on their very own Garden parquet.

“When we were up by 16, I didn’t think we had the game by any means,” said Boston guard Ainge.

“But when we were up by six points with under two minutes and had the ball, I thought we had it for sure.”

When the Lakers fell behind by 79-63 in the third quarter, Riley was desperate.

“I felt like it was gone,” he said. “That’s why we began to trap and press.

“There was no way we could get back in the game unless we changed defensively. Whether it was effective or not, it got us thinking quicker.”

Suddenly, there was Worthy, blocking a shot by Dennis Johnson, sending Cooper away for a pull-up three-pointer on the break.

Suddenly, there was Mychal Thompson, stealing Bird’s pass intended for Robert Parish, then slamming the ball home on the other end.

Suddenly, there was Byron Scott going high for a rebound of a missed three-pointer by Bird, and Magic Johnson was slapping the ball from Bird, and Parish was holding the ball past the 24-second buzzer.

And suddenly, the Lakers had fought back to tie the score, 95-95, as Abdul-Jabbar tossed in a sky hook.

“I saw the collective energy,” Riley said. “It gave us the lift.”

Then, just as suddenly, the Celtics were ahead by eight again, Wanda Cooper was in the hallway and Riley was cursing himself.

“I should have called a timeout when they went up by four,” said Riley, who planned to do just that but waited until the Lakers had crossed the half-court line.

By that time, however, they didn’t see Riley’s signal.

“I saw confusion and a weak offensive set develop, which resulted in a bad shot (by Abdul-Jabbar) and a layup by Ainge,” Riley said. “I was ticked at myself.”

When play resumed, Magic--who had yet to score in the fourth quarter--missed a driving layup, and McHale grabbed the rebound. On the other hand, Bird ignored a charging Abdul-Jabbar and calmly sank a spinning, fall-away jumper from the top of the key.

Celtics 103, Lakers 95, 3:29 to go. It should have been over.

That’s what McHale, after extracting the turtles from his pool, was saying Wednesday: “This game’s going to rub us the wrong way for a long time. It was a tough way to lose.”

It was an un-Celtic way to lose, with three turnovers and a missed rebound.

“I don’t know why guys make bad passes and don’t get rebounds,” Ainge said.

First, it was Dennis Johnson, throwing away a pass.

Then it was Abdul-Jabbar, ripping the ball right out of Parish’s hands.

“I think that was the key play to start it all,” Michael Cooper said.

The play became a heart-breaker, Bird said, when Cooper made a three-pointer on the other end to make it 103-100 with 1:32 to play.

Riley said: “I thought it was a great play because Magic penetrated and then kicked it back out to Coop. We had three rebounders under there.

“It was definitely a dagger to the heart.”

It also was a shot, Wanda Cooper said, that her husband might have passed up before this season.

“He would have wanted to take it, then he probably would have passed it off,” she said. “But Game 2 (when he made 6 of 7 from three-point range) helped his confidence so much.

“He’s so poised and relaxed, he just takes his time out there.”

On the Celtics’ next trip down the court, Bird threw a lazy pass intended for McHale. It went out of bounds. Worthy made a strong move, took McHale to the lane, and made the short jumper that cut the Boston lead to one, 103-102.

Bird misfired again, Mychal Thompson rebounded--and the Lakers set up an alley-oop pass from Magic to Abdul-Jabbar for a jam, with Cooper setting the back screen on Parish that made it all possible. The Lakers led, 104-103, their first lead since the 3:13 mark of the first quarter.

With 29 seconds to go and a season perhaps in the balance, everyone in the building knew the game would become a private duel between Bird and Magic.

“We were both going to do what we had to do to win this game,” Magic said. “That’s the difference between us and a lot of other players.”

Why, when everything is on the line, do they show such willingness?

“What do you mean, willingness? They’re both making two and a half million,” Riley said jokingly Wednesday. “That’s part of the fine print they don’t realize is in their contract.”

First, it was Bird, launching a three-pointer from the left corner with 12 seconds to go. Swish. The Garden erupted in cheers--and jeers for Nicholson.

Then, after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had made a free throw, McHale got his hands on the rebound of the missed second, only to see the ball slip out of bounds.

Seven seconds left. After a timeout, Cooper in-bounds to Magic, who drives and throws in a hook over McHale and Parish. Lakers by one, two seconds to go.

For the Laker wives and Riley and Nicholson, it would be the longest two ticks of the season. There was Bird, breaking free of Worthy, straddling the three-point line, putting up a jumper.

Riley was standing almost right behind Bird.

“He’s a killer, an assassin,” Riley said. “I saw the look in his eye before the in-bounds pass: ‘Give it to me.’

“He caught it and he was wide open. I thought it was in. I thought the leprechaun was standing there.”

Wanda Cooper was sitting on the opposite side of the Boston basket.

“I thought he had it,” she said. “Anybody else, and it would have been too rushed, too much at stake. But Larry makes that shot.”

Nicholson was in line with the shot, two balconies above.

“All I did was hold my breath,” he said. “I couldn’t believe he got the shot.”

The shot hit the opposite rim--and bounced out.

“Not one person looked up at me,” Nicholson said. “They’d been screaming all night. It was depressing. Not one person looked up.”

There were 12 Laker players celebrating on the court, and two rows of Laker fans going nuts as well.

It’s something she’ll never forget, Wanda Cooper said.

“Game of the ages,” she said. “Just because of the setting. The Garden. The finals. I loved it.”

In the Laker dressing room afterward, trainer Vitti pulled aside a couple of the first-year players.

“Cherish every moment,” he said. “If we win this thing, this may be the only time you’re ever here in your life.”

And that night, before they boarded the bus back to the hotel, Abdul-Jabbar made a remark to no one in particular.

“Gee, nobody asked me about Greg Kite tonight.”