Worthy to Rest; First, He Does Job

Watch James Worthy limp around, and you have no trouble understanding why the Laker forward plans to forgo next weekend’s All-Star Game in Chicago to stay home and rest his sore left knee.

“He’s got that Gabby Hayes limp,” teammate Mychal Thompson said. “He walks like his shoe size is 10 rather than his regular size 15.”

But try telling that to the Sacramento Kings, who were left wondering what kind of damage a healthy Worthy would have inflicted after the damaged model scored 26 points--22 in the first half--in the Lakers’ 115-94 romp Thursday night at the Arco Arena.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt he could use the rest,” said Laker Coach Pat Riley, who was informed of Worthy’s decision when the team flew here Thursday morning. “It doesn’t make any difference how he’s playing, it’s his responsibility, and he feels rest is better.”

The Lakers were ahead by 14 points in the first six minutes and by 22 almost before Chick Hearn had a station break.

The Laker second team briefly let the Kings back into the game midway through the second quarter, when the home team closed within six at 40-34. But shortly thereafter, Worthy ran off a quick 10 points, including successive jams; the Laker lead was back to 19 at halftime, and the second half could have been postponed to a later date--like the 21st Century, when the Kings may finally be ready for this level of competition.

Then again, if they hadn’t played the second half, the paying crowd of 10,333 would have missed the novelty of A.C. Green and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar combining to score a basket for the Kings, or the Laker substitutes holding the King first-stringers scoreless for the first 4:51 of the last quarter.

All in all, it was an ugly final period, but it looked just fine to the Laker bench-warmers, especially Ray Tolbert, who had eight points, including two thunderous dunks.

“Nice game, Tarpley,” Abdul-Jabbar said to Tolbert as he walked out of the dressing room.

The levity ends for the Lakers tonight when they return home to play the Atlanta Hawks, who have been sitting in Los Angeles since Wednesday night.

“I’m glad we didn’t have a 48-minute job to do tonight, wire-to-wire,” said Riley, who was able to give four of his starters (everyone except Green) no more than 32 minutes Thursday.

“We know Atlanta’s a great basketball team, a bounce-back team (it lost two games to Boston in five days) and they’re tough on the road.”

There hasn’t been a tougher team in the NBA on the road than the Lakers, who are 14-6 away from home and have won 10 of their last 12 road games.

“The only difference between our record and everybody else on top is our road record,” Riley said.

“We were sharp as hell at the beginning tonight. We had a lot of energy and we were crisp. We scored on 12 of our first 13 possessions. And they missed a lot of their shots and rushed a lot of their shots.”

Worthy, meanwhile, was making 9 of his first 10. The Lakers shot 60.5% in the first half, the reserves bringing down the average after a 70% first quarter.

“The ‘blue’ (subs) didn’t get one good shot for about six minutes,” Riley said.

They had a lot more fun in the final quarter, when they actually outscored the Kings, 26-24.

And Green and Abdul-Jabbar shared a laugh about their basket for the other side.

The basket was credited to Otis Thorpe, two of his team-high 23 points, but in actuality Green and Abdul-Jabbar combined to guide the ball into the basket while battling each other for the rebound.

“I was mad,” said Green, who finished with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. “Those kinds of things, you wouldn’t mind if they went on the rim and rolled off . . . but I think I should have got credit for the rebound, really.”

Abdul-Jabbar, who had 13 points and 6 boards, piped up.

“It was my rebound,” he said. “I had my hand on it and you hit me, and the ball went into the hoop.”

Worthy said he first thought about not going to Chicago several weeks ago, even before he’d been named to the Western Conference team.

“(General Manager) Jerry West and I briefly talked about it a few weeks ago that if I made it, maybe I should think about (not playing),” Worthy said. “I made the decision this morning and told Riley I’d rather not play.

“The knee has been sort of unpredictable, up and down. It’s better, but the explosiveness and gliding, that’s still not there. I could use the rest.”

Sacramento’s Thorpe was miffed that he had been passed over for All-Star consideration and didn’t take it kindly when someone suggested he still had a chance to make the team. He didn’t know Worthy was hurt.

“Yeah, sure I do,” Thorpe said of his chances. “I should have tripped Worthy when I had the chance.”

It was only then that Thorpe was informed Worthy had begged off.

“You’re kidding me,” Thorpe said. “You’re pulling my leg.”

Why should any of the Kings believe otherwise?