Did The Force Come Back With the Lakers? : This Has Been Their Day to Win the Title

Some day, it’ll show up in a film festival at the Nuart Theatre.

Let’s see, they’ll probably open with “Three Faces of Eve,” follow that with “Sybil,” and perhaps, “The Thing With Two Heads.”

And then, the feature flick, “1987 NBA Championship Series,” starring those multiple personalities, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.

Sheila Benson’s review wasn’t available at press time, probably because the Lakers and Celtics haven’t decided yet what kind of ending they’re going to shoot.

But what started out as a laugher in Los Angeles--the Keystone Kops running rings around the comatose Celtics--suddenly shifted into a passion play in Boston, where Celtic pride, courage and stubbornness brought the Laker flyboys back to earth twice.

They’ve shifted scenes once more--back to the Forum in Inglewood--where if form holds true, the Lakers should win their fourth NBA title of the ‘80s, either this afternoon (Channel 2, 12:30) or Tuesday night, if a seventh game is necessary.

Recent trends would suggest that the hourglass will run out on the Celtics in Game 6 this afternoon. In each of their previous three titles this decade, the Lakers clinched in Game 6: Philadelphia, 1980, Philadelphia again, 1982, and Boston, 1985. And the only two times the Celtics have been eliminated in 18 finals have been in Game 6: the Lakers in ’85 and St. Louis in 1958.

The Celtics, however, have a sneaky way of rewriting the script at the last moment--as anyone who remembers waiting for Jack Kent Cooke’s balloons to fall from the Forum ceiling in 1969 can attest.

If they do it this time, rallying from a 3-1 deficit that became 3-2 after Thursday’s 123-108 win in Game 5, the Celtics will have assured themselves a special place in history.

Laker Coach Pat Riley said as much already. Saturday, Boston Coach K. C. Jones was inclined to agree.

“I wish I was in (Riley’s) situation to say that,” Jones said.

“We’re down one ballgame, and now we have a chance to tie this series up. All things considered, if we win it, it will be one of the greatest feats we’ve seen in sports in a long time.”

The Lakers, of course, think the history books are top-heavy enough with Celtic lore. And they’ve gone through 99 games (82 regular-season, 17 playoff) in eight months trying to convince people that this is their year.

It worked with Doug Moe (Remember him? He was the guy coaching Denver against the Lakers in the first round, way back in April). Moe said the Nuggets had zero chance against the Lakers, and he said the odds weren’t much better for any other team in the league, either.

Saturday, there was a guy in a Celtic uniform who sounded like he agreed.

“I think they’re the best team in the league,” Larry Bird said. “They’ve won the most games. They went through the playoffs unscratched. They have some close games, but you know who is going to win by the way they play.”

Obviously, Bird figures that Dancing Barry will soon be two-stepping on the grave of the Celtics, who lost their first two playoff games here by an average of 15 1/2 points.

The Celtics, after all, have gone to great lengths to prove they can’t play well anywhere but in Boston Garden. Away from parquet, they’ve won just four games since the end of February.

“I’ve come to the conclusion,” Boston forward Kevin McHale said, “that we stink on the road.”

But just to be polite, someone asked Bird the obligatory question: So, Larry, do you think the Celtics have a chance?

“Oh, there’s no question,” Bird said.

Wait a minute. McHale had said the media were “ridiculous” for the way they waffled from one moment to the next as this series ebbed and flowed. But wasn’t this Bird talking out of both sides of his mouth, too?

Naw, said the most-quoted resident ever to hang a hat in French Lick, Ind.

“If something goes wrong (for the Lakers), or somebody goes down early in the game, and if we’re hitting our shots, then we have a chance,” Bird said.

The Lakers’ chances, of course, will become more discernible the moment it becomes clear which James Worthy and Byron Scott show up today.

Will it be the Worthy who performed like the second coming of Julius Erving in the Forum, or the Worthy who was rendered all but worthless in the Lakers’ two losses in Boston?

“He’s been challenged,” Riley said. “I have faith in James.”

As for Scott, who shot 26% in Boston after two 20-plus point games in L.A., Riley said you gotta believe there, too.

“Like all shooters, he’s just got to ride this thing out,” Riley said. “Like I said, ‘Watch out. He could go off at any moment.’ ”

The Lakers are hopeful that moment is now.