Lakers’ History in Game 7 Does Repeat : L.A. Closes the Book on Mavericks, 117-102, to Win Western Title

If that wasn’t sweat on owner Jerry Buss’ forehead in the Laker dressing room Saturday afternoon in the Forum, then what was it?

“Dallas dew,” said Buss, acknowledging the seven games’ worth of anxious moments the Dallas Mavericks gave the Lakers in the National Basketball Assn.’s Western Conference finals.

But for all the Dallas dew, it’s still a Laker reign. With James Worthy scoring 28 points, a 117-102 win over the Mavericks in Game 7 Saturday stamped the Lakers as the best in the West for the seventh time in the ‘80s. It also puts them in line for their fifth NBA title in the decade, which would keep the appointment with history that Coach Pat Riley made almost a year ago when he guaranteed his team would be the first in 19 years to win back-to-back titles.

“Right now, we stand alone at the top,” said Riley, whose team will meet the Detroit Pistons in Game 1 of the finals Tuesday night at the Forum.

“Boston isn’t there, and we can’t worry about Boston not being there. It’s our identity, our tradition, it’s us we have to worry about.”

Not to worry. That was the message General Manager Jerry West had delivered to Buss Friday, hours after the Mavericks had taken the Lakers to the limit by winning in Reunion Arena.

“I was relaxed,” West said. “I knew Magic was going to be great--and he was better than great.”

As inspired as Magic Johnson’s play may have been Saturday--and his 24 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds would confirm that--his pregame suggestion to Riley was a stroke of genius. If Riley wanted to keep Dallas’ Roy Tarpley from doing his usual monster mash on the boards, Johnson knew just the man for the job: Magic Johnson.

“He challenged me,” Riley said. “He told me he wanted to play him.”

Now, there are fewer hairs on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s head than point guards offering to go one-on-one with a 7-footer. That Johnson is different, however, is not exactly a news flash.

“I told (Riley) that two games ago,” Johnson said. “I told him if he wanted to keep Tarpley under 10 rebounds, to let me play him.”

Tarpley, who had two games of 20 rebounds in this series, had 7 on Saturday, just as he did in Game 6, when Johnson first honed in on him. Tarpley did not have a rebound in the first half of Game 7, and only two on the offensive boards, one fewer than Johnson.

“That’s why my lower back is hurting now,” Johnson said. “He beat me up.

“He’s relentless. I can get him boxed out, but he makes me pay for it now.”

After coming out of the first half with a 54-53 lead, the Lakers made the Mavericks pay up in the third quarter. That’s when the Lakers opened an eight-point advantage, 87-79, starting with a rousing jam and free throw by Abdul-Jabbar off a baseball pass by Johnson, one of Magic’s six assists in the quarter.

While Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar stood at opposite free-throw lines, pointing at each other, the sellout crowd took that as a cue to rock the nearest seismograph.

Worthy, meanwhile, scored on seven straight shots in the period, in which he showed his full complement of drives and dunks. After Game 6, Worthy had gotten less-than-complimentary reviews for failing to score the game-tying basket in the final seconds of a 105-103 defeat.

“I thought about it only that night for a few hours,” Worthy said. “I knew I had to clear my mind before today.”

It was still a six-point game when Michael Cooper, who had played a scoreless 10 minutes in the first half, re-entered with 1:51 left in the third period. A moment later, he tipped a pass away from Mark Aguirre--who led the Mavericks with 24 points--to Johnson, who sent Worthy away for a left-handed jam that made it 82-74.

The Laker lead reached double figures for the first time, 87-77, when Cooper nailed a three-pointer from the right side.

“I was screaming for the guys to get me the ball,” said Cooper, who also hit another three-pointer from the corner with 9:20 left in the fourth quarter, after Dallas had closed to within six again.

“When I went out to warm up today, I hit about five or six of them in a row, and that’s very rare for me. I knew I was on.”

The dominant theme in this series has been home team on, visitors out, and Saturday was no exception, although the Mavericks--0 for 10 in postseason Forum appearances, didn’t check out in the first half as they had in three earlier losses in this series.

“I’m mystified, just like anybody else,” Riley said.

Home has been kinder to no one more than Abdul-Jabbar, who was dominated by Maverick center James Donaldson in Dallas, dominated in the first half here as well, but wound up with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Riley had been after Abdul-Jabbar to pass more when triple-teamed, and his feeds resulted in easy baskets for Worthy and A.C. Green, who had 14 points and 8 rebounds.

“He’s been so abused,” West said of the 41-year-old center, who has been put out to pasture more often than anyone this side of Little Bo Peep.

“If he played like a lot of other centers in this league, I could understand why people get on him,” West said. “But he’s still a great player and a wonderful presence. Look at those little passes he made, reading the right guy at the right moment.”

So, West was asked tongue-in-cheek, do the Lakers still plan to protect Abdul-Jabbar in the upcoming expansion draft?

“No,” he said equally deadpan, “we’re going to cut him at the end of the season.”

The Mavericks, who lost Aguirre for three minutes at the top of the fourth quarter when the forward jammed a couple of fingers on his left hand, still were within 8, 104-96, at the four-minute mark. But Johnson then tossed a junior skyhook over his buddy Aguirre, and shortly thereafter, Byron Scott--who had opened the game with a three-pointer--delivered another to make it 109-96 with 2:21 to go.

The Mavericks were history, giving the Lakers the chance to expand on their own.

“We’re more businesslike this season,” said Worthy, who supplemented his points with a workmanlike seven rebounds and an equal number of assists.

“Last year we were hungry and more intense. Now, we know we can repeat, and that we haven’t accomplished anything yet.”

John MacLeod, the Dallas coach, came into the Laker dressing room and embraced Riley.

“You wouldn’t let us play,” MacLeod said.

Curtains for the Mavericks, one final act for the Lakers.