Age and Mavericks Haven’t Caught Up With These Lakers

A Laker Moment: Early in the fourth quarter Saturday, Lakers lead the Dallas Mavericks by a shaky six points, television timeout.

Dancing Barry boogies onto the Forum court, trailed by five tiny, boogieing Groucho Marx impersonators.

Why? Don’t ask me. I’m sure the routine was fraught with Freudian symbolism, but I’m no existentialist or Marxist.

Why five Grouchos? All I can say is that the writers’ strike has been hell on all of us.

I also know you can only get this kind of entertainment and metaphysical shtick at the Fabulous Forum, and that what followed immediately after that timeout vaulted the Lakers into the National Basketball Assn. finals for what? The 20th straight season?

After the timeout, Michael (Grampa McCoy) Cooper, balancing on his one good ankle, dropped in a three-point bomb. Then Byron Scott stripped Maverick guard Derek Harper on a drive and batted the ball to Magic Johnson, who broke free with a behind-the-back dribble at midcourt.

Magic continued hoopward for a layin in the face of 7-foot, goggle-eyed Roy Tarpley, who might someday be as tough as Magic, in which case Roy will whip Mike Tyson and join the Marines in the same day.

With that simple Coopbomb and Magic in-your-goggles layup, it was game, set, match, Lakers. The final score was 117-102, Lakers winning the Western Conference, four games to three.

They made it look easy, but as Laker Coach Pat Riley walked off the court, I swear I saw him blink back tears. Tears of pride, I would guess, in a team that still has wonderful talent but no longer gets a free pass to the NBA finals each year.

One day after the other half of sport’s greatest rivalry faded away in a most ungraceful manner, Riley watched his own team respond to another big challenge.

“Sometimes people take things for granted,” Magic Johnson said. “Riley don’t take nothin’ for granted.”

Certainly not a trip to the NBA finals. No longer can the Lakers skip all the way to Oz along the yellow-and-purple brick road. Now they slog along the back roads, through the briars and brambles and bushes, where a rabbit wouldn’t go.

Such a trip you might imagine would exact a terrible toll on the no-longer-youthful Lakers and send them lurching into the finals on a wing and a prayer.

But you would imagine wrong, according to Riley.

“We got stronger,” Riley said a few minutes after the game, his emotions back in check. “Instead of looking at it that the two seven-game series (Utah and Dallas) took a toll, I see it as solidifying character. It strengthened the team.”

That remains to be seen, but who can second-guess Riley so far? The Lakers are four games away from capturing the final jewel of the NBA playoffs’ quadruple crown.

And they got here by outrunning, outdefending, and mostly outclutching the Mavericks, who, having been milked for all the dramatic fodder they could be milked for by the Lakers, were sent packing.

The Mavericks did not go meekly. They were a worthy opponent, though not as worthy as James Worthy. The Mavericks tried everything. Team owner Donald Carter even wrote a fight song for this game--”Look Out L.A., We’re Going to Put It to Ya.”

I smell a Broadway musical.

But don’t look for that tune in your record stores. Even a Willie Nelson-Prince duet couldn’t save this song. The Mavericks’ theme song was changed Saturday to the Ray Charles classic, “Hit the Road, Jack (And Don’t You Come Back No More, No More).”

Maybe the Lakers were inspired by the Celtics losing the day before to upstart Detroit. Only a Laker win Saturday would prevent a monumental NBA changing of the guard. A Detroit vs. Dallas finals would have had to be played at Buckingham Palace.

Instead, the finals will open at the Forum, which comes as no surprise to Jerry West, for one.

“I really thought we were going to win all the way,” said the Laker general manager, who was so confident he only paced through two pair of shoes during Saturday’s game. “I think we’re a great, great team. I have a good feeling about this team. It takes more than just being talented. You’ve got Michael Cooper running around out there on egg shells (a tender ankle) and still contributing. Magic played one of the best games I’ve ever seen him play. He just had that look . . .

“Have you ever played in a big game? Do you know how much energy and adrenaline you have? It’s a wonderful feeling, you don’t get tired.”

Magic had 24 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds, kept 7-foot Tarpley--Roy the Roborebounder--off the boards. Find yourself another point guard who can do all that and you’ve got yourself a dynasty for the ‘90s.

Is it true, Magic, that you don’t get tired in a game like this?

“The emotional part of it,” Johnson said, “will carry you through the tired part of it.”

Magic will be making his seventh trip to the NBA finals in his nine-year career. This is a guy who knows the way to San Jose, Jack, brick road or back road.

Has this been the hardest road yet to the finals?

“Of course,” Magic said, and he was wearing about 30 pounds of ice bags to prove his point. Magic looked like a glacier. Jerry Buss throws cocktail parties with less ice.

Was Magic, like Riley, a little misty-eyed over having climbed to within sight of the big peak once again?

“I haven’t had a chance,” Johnson said. “CBS grabbed me right on the court, then you guys (media) grabbed me. When I go home and get a moment alone, get alone for a couple of hours, I will feel good. We worked hard to get back. Real hard. It took a lot to get here, emotionally.”

Yet there was no champagne in the Laker locker room Saturday, no whooping and celebrating over winning the Western Conference title.

“Champagne?” Magic said. “For what? My first year was the only time we had champagne (after winning the conference title). No hoopla, no champagne. We’re going for the ultimate.”

What? Ten Groucho Marxes?