Magic Drags Lakers Past Barkley, 76ers

If trainer Gary Vitti had strapped any more ice to Magic Johnson’s body, the Laker guard could have catered cocktails for 40.

There were ice packs on both ankles, another matching set on his knees, and one for the groin pull under the towel Johnson had wrapped around himself after the Lakers’ 110-104 win over the Philadelphia 76ers here Monday night.

He had thought about sitting out this one--the Lakers’ 13th win in their last 14 games, 20th in their last 22, and 21st in 28 games on the road--especially since it was coming less than 30 hours after Sunday’s win in Dallas. But back in Los Angeles, Michael Cooper had just gotten the word from Dr. Robert Kerlan: The Lakers were insisting Cooper stay home for the duration of the trip and rest his sprained left ankle.

“I was thinking, well, here I am,” Johnson said. “It’s hard for me to sit. I came here, I show up, the juice gets to flowing, I’m thinking, ‘I can bear the pain and play.’ And when Coop is out, I have to play. That’s the bottom line.

“The groin stopped me from running and cutting like I want to. I’m like a horse. I’ve got to carry my right leg up and over instead of running straight ahead. I can’t explode. That’s my problem.”

Problem? Johnson had 22 points, 17 assists and 11 rebounds, his ninth triple-double of the season, two for two on this trip. From Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s opening sky hook, the Lakers never trailed against the 76ers, who only yesterday, it seems, were a team to be feared. Now, they’re just a scream.

At least that’s the way the Lakers left Charles Barkley, the 76er all-star forward who is more explosive than your basic ammunition dump. Barkley, who had 15 points (13 fewer than his average) and 12 rebounds--said he never uttered a word to rookie referee Eddie F. Rush when he drew a technical foul with 1:35 to play and the 76ers down by only 3, 105-102.

“All I did,” Barkley said, “was scream.”

Laker Coach Pat Riley thought that one over for a moment.

“There’s nothing in the rule book about a scream,” Riley mused.

Then again, the guy who wrote the rule book was never within earshot when 6-foot 6-inch, 263-pound Charles Wade Barkley exhaled with hurricane force. For Barkley, it was his league-leading 24th technical foul, which have cost him about $3,000.

“That official went like this,” Riley said, pantomiming a shudder. “He was definitely looking over his shoulder all night.”

So were the Lakers, especially after Barkley punctuated an earlier skirmish by firing the basketball at Laker forward A.C. Green with about 4 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter.

“He relishes that kind of confrontation,” Riley said. “Grappling and mud wrestling. But throwing a ball at a player--he doesn’t have to do that.”

After that scene, James Worthy said, the Lakers sensed that Barkley would eventually lose it. And when he did, it may have cost the 76ers a chance at a game the Lakers were playing only well enough to win.

Barkley thought he had made a clean block of Magic Johnson’s driving shot. He did, Johnson said--except that before the shot, Barkley had bumped Johnson with a force that would have dented most fenders.

“I came off a pick,” said Johnson, describing how he had shed defender David Wingate, “and Charles hesitated a minute. He jumped out at me, but then he went back to get his man. When I drove, he came and bumped me.”

And when referee Rush went for his whistle, Barkley went slightly primal, which may make for great therapy in private but doesn’t fly in a group. Rush signaled the ‘T,’ Byron Scott made the free throw, and Johnson made both of his. The Laker lead was six, 108-102.

“He called a terrible game all night,” Barkley said of Rush. “Another terrible call wouldn’t hurt.”

Moments later, Barkley went coast-to-coast after rebounding a Laker miss, contact was made with Johnson, and the ball went out of bounds. The 76ers retained possession, but Barkley--with arms outstretched--clearly expected a call.

Asked about the play afterward, Barkley said: “You mean the one I was going to call the police because he assaulted me? That one?

Yes, his questioner replied.

“I don’t remember,” Barkley said.

It should be remembered, however, that it isn’t easy being Charles Barkley these days. He had been mentioned as an MVP candidate earlier in the season, but when the 76ers went south--they’ve dropped out of sight in the Atlantic Division by losing 20 straight games on the road and 11 of their last 14 overall--the drums stopped banging for Barkley. On the 76ers’ visit to Los Angeles last Dec. 29, Barkley had set a standard for bluntness by calling the 76ers “a bad team, man. A bad . . . team.” The tape from that postgame interview still gets wide air play in Los Angeles, and Barkley was fined for his honesty.

“Charles is a great player,” Johnson said. “It’s like we all have to mature game-wise as well as person-wise, and he’s doing that more and more.

“Being a superstar, you have to deal with everything that comes at you. He’s got so much responsibility on his shoulders, and sometimes it gets to him. It weighs on him. You have to take all that, but it’s a lot to take on.”

It’s all the more harder when the baton of leadership has been passed to you from Julius Erving, who retired last summer after achieving everything but beatification in the NBA.

“This used to be Julius’ team,” Johnson said. “Now, it’s been given to him. I think he’s going to be all right.”

Laker Notes

Michael Cooper, examined Monday by Dr. Robert Kerlan, argued unsuccessfully about having to miss the rest of this trip with a sprained left ankle. “If the playoffs were to start today, I’m sure I’d be playing,” said Cooper, who said the swelling and pain has diminished since he got hurt Feb. 18. “But (Kerlan) always has the last word.” . . . Mike Smrek played just nine minutes but included was a one-minute sequence in which he scored on successive alley-oop passes from Magic Johnson and then blocked two straight shots by 76er center Mike Gminski on the other end of the court.