Notebook : Buss: Lakers, Jabbar Agree on 2-Year Contract

Jerry Buss said Sunday that the Lakers have reached verbal agreement with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on a new two-year contract.

“We have an agreement,” the Laker owner said. “As far as I know, it hasn’t been typed up yet, but I believe we’re together on it.”

Abdul-Jabbar became a free agent Sunday after the Lakers won the NBA title, 4-2, with a 106-93 victory over the Boston Celtics at the Forum. Abdul-Jabbar scored 32 points and blocked 4 shots in 29 minutes.

If Abdul-Jabbar signs a new contract, General Manager Jerry West would have the services of his 18-year veteran center through the 1988-89 season, during which Abdul-Jabbar would turn 42.

“We should have something done in the next couple of days,” West said.

Buss, watching Abdul-Jabbar on a TV set in the Laker dressing room just before the game ended: “How do you like his haircut for the day?”

Abdul-Jabbar had shaved his head again.

While other Lakers were spraying champagne, by the way, Abdul-Jabbar sipped from a can of Hawaiian Punch--at least until he poured it over the head of CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger.

The 12 points that the Celtics scored in the third quarter of Game 6 were almost an NBA record low for a championship series.

The record is 11 by the New York Knicks against the Lakers in 1972. Boston scored 12 points against St. Louis in 1960.

The Lakers, who trailed, 56-51, at halftime, outscored the Celtics, 30-12, in the third quarter.

“That’s when they took the game away from us,” Celtic guard Dennis Johnson said. “We did the exact opposite of what we did in the first half. We didn’t move the ball and went one-on-one instead. It became disastrous.

“We just didn’t have it,” said Johnson, who was one Celtic who obviously did, finishing with 33 points. Johnson had six of Boston’s 12 third-quarter points.

“That quarter ended our season,” he said.

Add D.J.: He said that winning consecutive NBA titles “is the toughest thing in the world,” which could be pretty close to true since nobody has done it since 1969.

But why?

“I couldn’t answer that,” he said. “You’ll probably get 100 different answers. Now, you’d better ask the Lakers, because no question we’re coming back right after them next year.”

Kevin McHale, who played throughout the postseason on a stress fracture in his right foot, says he’s going to have the necessary surgery--Dr. Tony Daly says a screw will be placed in the bone--secretly.

Daly has said that it would be four months before McHale can play, meaning he could miss the start of next season. McHale says he’s gotten several different estimates.

Throughout the playoffs, McHale had refused to talk about the foot. Sunday, he relented a little.

“I’m going to go where I have to go, get my mind back together and get my foot back together,” he said.

“It’s kind of bittersweet for me. It’s going to be a relief to get everything over. To get back to the point where I’m not waking up every morning, taking the first five steps and saying, ‘Oh, this really stinks.’ ”

Actually, he didn’t say stinks. He used the same word he used--and CNN carried--before Game 6 when he was asked what he thought of the Celtics’ road record.

There had been speculation that McHale had been endangering his career. Had he been deciding to play with his heart or his head?

“It was the same thing that told me to keep playing when I was a kid and they kicked us out of the gym,” McHale said. “Who knows what it is? Love of basketball. I love to play basketball.”

Larry Bird, when asked if the Lakers would be a mediocre team without Magic Johnson: “Why, do they want to trade him?

“He’s a great basketball player, the best I’ve ever seen. Unbelievable. I don’t know what to say.”

Of Abdul-Jabbar, Bird said: “The thing that surprised me was how many shots he blocked. This (score sheet) says 4, but it seemed like 10.

” . . . They need him to be a great, great basketball team. There’s no question, the way he looked in this series, he could play a couple more years.”

The Lakers set three team records for a six-game championship series: highest field-goal percentage (51.4%), most field-goal attempts (824) and fewest turnovers (68). Boston set a record for fewest steals in a six-game series (30).

Magic Johnson set a record for highest free-throw percentage in a six-game series by making 24 of 25 attempts, 96%. He led all scorers in the series with 157 points, a 26.2 average. Abdul-Jabbar averaged 21.7 and James Worthy 20.7. Bird led the Celtics with a 24.2 average.

Byron Scott scored just eight points, his fourth straight game under double figures, but held his man, Danny Ainge, to two points on 1-of-9 shooting. . . . Michael Cooper played 34 minutes on a sprained right knee, scored 6 points and made 6 assists. . . . One Laker who held back during the postgame celebration was Kurt Rambis, who never joined his teammates on the TV platform. Rambis had 1 point and 2 rebounds in 6 minutes and averaged just 9.3 minutes a game in the series.

During the finals, Laker President Bill Sharman was asked to place the fast break of the 1986-87 Lakers in historical perspective. Wrote Sharman:

“I actually believe this year’s Laker fast break is the best and most effective that I have ever seen or that has ever played. Until the last few years, I always felt that our old Boston Celtics teams (1958-61, with Sharman playing off-guard) were probably the best ever . . .

“I also felt our 1972 Lakers championship squad (coached by Sharman) was one of the best running teams ever. However, last season, I really thought we reached a new proficiency of running the break and were the all-time best. Now, this year with Magic Johnson giving a new and more active role in the offense, and with the improvement of A. C. Green and the addition of Mychal Thompson, along with career-best seasons of Worthy, Scott and Cooper, I absolutely feel this is the best fast-breaking team that has ever played the game.”

The Lakers will be honored in a parade through downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, starting at 11 a.m. A rally at City Hall will follow at noon. Additional festivities are planned at the Forum at 2 p.m.

Don Chaney, who coached the Clippers for two seasons, has been named an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks, replacing Willis Reed, who took a similar job with the Sacramento Kings.

Times staff writers Gordon Edes, Scott Ostler, Mark Heisler and Chris Baker contributed to this story.