Lakers Kick Off the Spurs : Magic, Thompson Lead L.A. Into Second Round

As first-round sweeps go, this doesn’t compare to the last three seasons, when the Lakers sucked up the opposition like an atomic-powered Hoover. The Lakers may have cleaned up on the San Antonio Spurs with a 109-107 win here Tuesday night that closed out their best-of-five Western Conference series in the minimum number of games, but it took more than a modicum of effort.

“They got us in shape,” said Magic Johnson, whose exercise Tuesday night consisted of 25 points and 11 assists and drawing fouls from Alvin Robertson, the Spur guard who self-destructed--8 points, none in the second half before fouling out--after tearing up the Lakers in the first two games.

“One thing you want is to have a team make you play,” Johnson said, “because if we’re challenged now by somebody else, we’ve already been challenged by San Antonio.”

If Spur guard Johnny Dawkins had been able to kiss the glass with his driving shot in the last few seconds instead of hitting the backboard with the force of a karate chop, the Lakers’ challenge might have extended to a fourth game Thursday.

Instead, Mychal Thompson--the former Spur who is as popular here as a certain long-dead Mexican general--cradled Dawkins’ miss as it caromed off the front rim, and the Lakers sent the Spurs into drydock, where they probably will remain until Ens. David Robinson is present and accounted for, instead of just his parents, who were seated courtside.

“As much as (Mayor) Henry Cisneros is loved here, I’m hated, and I still don’t know why,” said Thompson, who turned in his third straight strong performance with 23 points and 9 rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench.

“It’s one of the great mysteries, I guess.”

The Lakers weren’t sure they had solved the Spurs until Dawkins--who has been back playing only one week after fracturing his right (nonshooting) hand--was unable to get his shot to drop. Dawkins succeeded in driving past Byron Scott after getting the inbounds pass from Mike Mitchell, but failed to draw Thompson to him for either a foul or an easy pass to Frank Brickowski.

“I had a choice to make,” Thompson said, “to either go after the shot or stay put. I knew it would be a tough shot for him to make--and obviously, I made the right choice. He threw it kind of hard--I think he got a little excited.”

The Hemisfair Arena crowd of 11,542 had reason to get excited after former Laker Brickowski--who had 22 points and 7 rebounds for the Spurs--threw in only the second three-pointer of his career to draw San Antonio to within two with 34 seconds left.

“That’s one of the ugliest three-pointers I’ve seen in a while--it was like a Kurt Rambis shot,” joked Laker guard Michael Cooper, whose only basket of the night was a monster three-pointer that just beat the 24-second clock and gave the Lakers their first lead of the fourth quarter, 100-99, with 6:44 to play.

Brickowski, who had missed four straight medium-range jumpers before finally connecting, was in no mood to appreciate Cooper’s gentle jibe.

“Tell Cooper he hasn’t been hitting his ‘3s’ all year,” Brickowski said. “Tell him to get his game together, and then he can talk.”

A Laker win threatened to come apart when Magic Johnson’s cross-court pass to the corner to Cooper was long and the Lakers failed to get a shot off in the allotted time, giving the Spurs one last possession with 9 seconds left. But with Robertson--who had averaged 31 points in the first two games--having made a premature exit, the ball wound up in the hands of Dawkins.

“That’s one of my favorite shots to take,” Dawkins said.

Maybe after rolling the videotape a few times, he’ll change his mind. Dawkins may not want to dwell on another fourth-quarter shot, when Robertson plucked the ball out of Magic Johnson’s hands and sailed downcourt with Dawkins on a 2-on-1 break, with Cooper the lone man back.

Robertson drew Cooper to him, then flipped a pass to Dawkins for what everyone in the building assumed would be an easy layup. Instead, Cooper somehow recovered and swatted the shot away, Johnson was fouled at the other end, and his two free throws gave the Lakers a 102-99 lead.

“The first thing I wanted to do after Robertson stole the ball was to get to him,” Cooper said. “He’s a great finisher--with his big hands, he’s like a small version of James Worthy.

“I wanted to make him pass the ball, and when he did, that was the first time I jumped off my (left) foot since it was injured. I was happy that I was able to make the play, especially since Coach Riley was hammering us about giving up so many points in the paint.”

The way both teams were scoring in the first half, the game had all the makings of a typical Western shootout. The Lakers led at halftime, 67-65, and while they were able to shut down Robertson, they never did figure out mercurial forward Walter Berry, who scored a game-high 27 points, most of them on off-balance, wrong-footed hanging shots.

“He makes more ugly shots than I do,” Thompson said.

The second half, however, was played at an entirely different tempo. The Spurs pulled ahead by as many as seven, 88-81, in the third quarter, but a tip-in by Thompson pulled the Lakers to within a basket, 91-89, by the end of the period.

Robertson, who had Cooper in his face for much of the second half, fouled Johnson with 3:02 left for his fifth foul, and was history with 47 seconds to go, when he hacked Johnson again, catching him with a forearm to the throat.

“I had to decide to become more aggressive on offense,” Johnson said. “I had to make Alvin play defense. If he was going to use all that energy on offense, I had to make him use some on defense, too.”

Thompson said Robertson was guilty of over-reaching on defense.

“I think he was trying too hard,” Thompson said. “Alvin does that sometimes.”

Riley, whose team will await the winner of the Portland-Utah series, was impressed by the way San Antonio, a 51-game loser, was able to extend the Lakers.

“I’m real glad we don’t have to play them in a fourth game,” Riley said. “When David Robinson shows up here, they’ll be a tough team.”

For now, however, they’re a team in waiting.

“The Lakers are used to blowing out teams in the first round,” Brickowski said. “We opened some eyes. But right now, that doesn’t feel that good.”

Laker Notes

Tickets for the first two games of the second round, against the winner of the Portland-Utah series, will go on sale this morning at 10 at the Forum box office as well at Ticketmaster outlets. The series will begin either Sunday afternoon or Tuesday night, depending on when the Jazz and Trail Blazers wind up. . . . Byron Scott had his second straight single-digit game after having scored in double figures in every game since Dec. 9. Scott had just 9 points, making 4 of 11 shots, and turned the ball over a season-high 6 times.