Riley Not Ready to Panic Yet : He Likes the Way Lakers Battled Back Before Losing

Apparently, it has come to this: At a time of year when the Lakers usually reach for the sledgehammer, they’re grasping for silver linings instead.

From Bel-Air to Bell Gardens, fans may be brooding about the Lakers’ 127-119 loss Sunday to the Houston Rockets, whose in-fighting was set aside at least long enough for Akeem Olajuwon to score 38 points, his biggest game ever against the Lakers. Those fans aren’t worrying without reason, considering this was:

--The Lakers’ fifth straight road loss, something that hasn’t happened since Magic Johnson blew out his knee in 1980.

--Their eighth loss in their last nine road games, the last four against teams they could conceivably meet in the Western Conference playoffs: Houston, Denver, Portland and Utah.

--Their first loss in their last nine games with the Rockets, including four games this season which the Lakers had won by an average of 14 points.

--Their 10th loss in 19 games since Johnson came out with a strained groin muscle.

But in the Laker dressing room, which Kareem Abdul-Jabbar exited faster than either sweat dries or reporters ask questions, Coach Pat Riley was free of perspiration or panic. If anything, he was almost passive in his acceptance of Sunday’s outcome.

“I look at it as making strides,” Riley said. “Our comeback was an indication that this team is getting back to where it was.”

The Lakers had fallen behind by 13, 100-87, after a jumper by Rocket guard Allen Leavell, before rallying to within two, 106-104, on a three-point play by Johnson with 4:59 left. They never got closer, however, even though Olajuwon fouled out with 3:20 to go.

It was still a two-point game, 121-119, after Byron Scott’s baseline jumper with 55 seconds left, but Cedric Maxwell, Olajuwon’s stand-in, made two free throws and the Lakers failed to convert on their next possession, as Abdul- Jabbar missed a skyhook, Johnson and James Worthy both missed with tips, and Michael Cooper’s off-balance jumper was off-target.

Sleepy Floyd, who burned the Lakers for two driving baskets in the last two minutes, finally grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made both free throws, putting this one out of reach.

“We showed something we haven’t shown in a while,” Riley said. “That was digging down and coming within two. Our character is beginning to surface. Today was the first day that we were at least healthy--the guys were feeling good.

“That’s why I try to keep this thing in perspective.”

In the Houston dressing room, Robert Reid--who had 19 points, matching the points scored by the man he hounded all afternoon, Magic Johnson--tried to lend some perspective from afar.

“If I’m the Lakers right now, they’ve got to be saying, ‘We’ve got the best record in the league, whoever we play in the playoffs has got to come through L.A. first,’ ” Reid said. “ ‘So, Houston finally beat us in the regular season--that’s good for them, but when the playoffs start, we’ll be ready.’

“The Lakers don’t have to sit back and tremble right now.”

And yet, as Riley freely acknowledged, there aren’t too many teams right now trembling at the sight of the Lakers, either.

“I think that’s academic--it’s already happened,” Riley said of the Lakers’ capacity to strike something short of awe in their opposition.

“We’ve talked about it, that teams have lost that little bit of respect. And we can’t live in the past. . . . We didn’t open that consciously. We opened it up because we were broken down physically.

“We’ve taken our lumps. It’s up to us to get that respect back by earning it. I think we will.”

But first, the Lakers showed great deference to Olajuwon, who was about as troubled by the Lakers’ double- and triple-teaming as he was by the flat tire that delayed his arrival here.

Olajuwon’s car broke down only a couple of miles from the arena, and he drove on the flat before finding someone to change the tire for him. No way was he going to get axle grease on the snappy white linen suit he was wearing, just as he didn’t allow the Laker defense to leave any tracks, either.

“I was feeling good--that’s all you need to know,” said Olajuwon, who made 17 of 26 shots, scored 18 points in the first half and 20 in the second, and made all four of his shots in the fourth quarter, in which the Rockets shot a sizzling 74%.

And how did Olajuwon suppose Abdul-Jabbar was feeling, one day after his 41st birthday, after being dwarfed on national TV? A little stung, perhaps?

“I don’t know,” Olajuwon said. “Ask him that. But this was a very important game for us.”

It was no laughing matter for the Lakers, either, even though they came out and committed an appalling seven turnovers in the game’s first seven minutes. Worthy, who sat out Friday’s win over Phoenix to rest his aching left knee, never did recover from a bad start: He had just 12 points on 6-of-20 shooting and turned the ball over five times.

“This was a big game for us, on the road,” Worthy said. “We have to establish ourselves on the road. We played pretty good, but not a complete game. We still have to make our move.”

With 12 assists and 10 rebounds, Magic had his third triple-double in four games and 12th of the season. He made what could have been a game-turning play in the last 90 seconds, fighting through two Rocket players to grab a defensive rebound, then threading a pass to Mychal Thompson for a layup that made it 119-117 with 1:05 to go. But the Lakers were unable to respond to that cue.

“Early on, we were coming in and taking care of business wherever we went to,” Johnson said. “We want to be playing well now, but we haven’t gotten together yet. Other teams have got better team-ness than we’ve got right now, in terms of being in sync.”

On Sunday, that even included the Rockets, who only two nights earlier had blown a 20-point lead in Denver and have been in semi-open revolt against Coach Bill Fitch.

“When we lost that game to Denver we decided that now is the time for all of us to come together collectively and start playing,” Reid said.

If it lasts for more than a day, the Rockets may be heard from in the playoffs.

“I think they’re going to be formidable,” Riley said. “I really do.”

For now, it seems almost everyone is for the Lakers.

Laker Notes

Byron Scott and Mychal Thompson had 22 points apiece to lead the Lakers, Thompson getting his in just 27 minutes off the bench. Another reserve, Tony Campbell, made 6 of 7 shots and scored 13 points in 14 minutes. On the debit side, starter Kurt Rambis went scoreless in 15 minutes (he attempted just one shot). A.C. Green had 10 points and 8 rebounds in 19 minutes. . . . Houston backup guard Allen Leavell had a big impact on Sunday’s game: During the time he spelled Sleepy Floyd in the second half, the Rockets went from five down to 13 ahead. It was a four-point game, 101-97, when Floyd re-entered. . . . James Worthy did not use his sore knee as an excuse for his play, but said he is concerned that the condition does not regress to the way it was in November, when he missed almost two weeks. . . . The Lakers play at San Antonio Tuesday, at Dallas the next night.