The 76ers, at Least, Got Laker Message

Playing without an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers won the 1979-80 NBA title in the sixth game at Philadelphia when rookie Magic Johnson, playing all five positions, scored 42 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in a 123-107 victory.

The Laker coach was Paul Westhead, who last week revealed the team’s pregame strategy to Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe.

“We decided Magic was going to be the center and we wanted Philly to get the message,” Westhead said. “We told Dave Zinkoff, the public address announcer at the Spectrum, to be sure to introduce Magic as the center.

“Just before we went out there, Jim Chones comes up to me and says, ‘Coach, let me jump center, I can get the tap.’

“I said, ‘Jim, I guess you just don’t get it.’ ”

Add Westhead: His Loyola Marymount basketball team, with 21 straight wins and a No. 15 UPI ranking, is the talk of the town, but it’s not the highest-rated team on campus. The baseball team is No. 7. It won its 13th straight Saturday night, beating Hawaii, 9-6, at Honolulu.

Ouch: Said “Today Show” host Bryant Gumbel, a devoted Cub fan, when asked about the proposal to install lights at Wrigley Field: “It makes sense. Considering the trades Jim Frey has made, they’re already operating in the dark.”

George Steinbrenner, named chairman of a commission to evaluate the effectiveness of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said of U.S. hockey wins in 1960 and 1980: “On two occasions we won against tremendous odds. Anything we can do once or twice, you should be able to do three times.”

Will New York Yankee fans hold him to that? Steinbrenner’s teams have won two world championships, but it’s been 10 years since the last one.

Trivia Time: What countries have won a gold medal in every Winter Olympics since 1924? (Answer below.)

From Bob Sudyk of the Hartford Courant, on what managers say to the press and what they really mean:

--”He’s got all the tools.” (“A complete set of wrenches, screwdrivers, pliers and hammer. He ought to open a garage.”)

--”Slats will be a permanent fixture in center field.” (“He’s so slow now, birds nest on his head.”)

--”There’s a lot of harmony on this team.” (“It should have been a Glee Club.”)

--”He throws like Bobby Feller.” (“Unfortunately, Feller is 69 years old.”)

--”Even a whale comes to the surface to blow sometimes.” (“I have no idea what that means, but it’ll get the writers off my back until I can think up something else to say.”)

From Richard Justice of the Washington Post: “When Minnesota scuffballer Joe Niekro was checked before an intrasquad game last week, he pulled a can opener, pliers, saltshaker and emery board from his pocket.”

Earlier this season, Charles Barkley said he was willing to bet $50,000 that Philadelphia would win 50 games. If anybody took him up on it, he’s got a job ahead of him. The 76ers have won 22 games. They have 28 games left. Figure it out.

Trivia Answer: Only one, the United States.

Quotebook

Kansas City Manager John Wathan, praising the club’s new spring training complex in Haines City, Fla.: “It’s like spring training on Fantasy Island. I keep expecting to see Tattoo.”