THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : LOS ANGELES LAKERS vs. DETROIT PISTONS : A.D. Means ‘Added Dimension’ : Dantley Scores 34 Points but Inspires the Pistons Elsewhere

Forward Adrian Dantley of the Detroit Pistons, an ex-Laker, made life miserable for his former team Tuesday night.

Dantley scored 34 points as the Pistons whipped the Lakers, 105-93, in the opening game of the National Basketball Assn. finals at the Forum.

“He played like a man possessed,” Piston Coach Chuck Daly said of Dantley. “He was spectacular offensively. He carried us through tough times on offense.”

Dantley, who played 1 1/2 seasons with the Lakers, was traded to the Utah Jazz for Spencer Haywood at the end of the 1978-79 season. The Jazz traded Dantley to Detroit in 1986 for forward Kelly Tripucka after Dantley was a holdout.

Dantley has always played well against the Lakers, but he said he doesn’t have a grudge against them for unloading him.

“It happened nine years ago. That’s part of the business,” said Dantley, who has been traded four times in his 12-year pro career. “They went to the finals the year after they traded me. The Lakers were starting two small forwards and they wanted a big forward, so they traded me.

“When I got traded, Jerry West said he didn’t want to do it. But Coach (Jack) McKinney wanted to do it. The system has hurt me. Whenever you get traded a lot, you’re supposed to be a bad guy. But I’m not.”

Swingman John Salley of the Pistons was one of the first to congratulate Dantley after he made 14 of 16 shots from the floor and 6 of 7 free throws in his best playoff game this season.

“Way to go teacher!” Salley said to Dantley. “Why do I call him teacher? Because every time he gets the ball he teaches you something new.”

Dantley, playing in the NBA finals for the first time in his career, took the Lakers to school.

The lesson the Lakers learned was that you can’t use one player to guard Dantley, the 12th-leading scorer in NBA history.

Laker forward A.C. Green, who had to check Dantley by himself for much of the game, was overmatched against A.D. as the Pistons ran isolation plays for Dantley. The Lakers later changed their strategy and assigned two defenders to Dantley.

“We need to figure out how to take away about 20 isolation plays for A.D.,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said. “We doubled him, but we weren’t quick enough on our rotations. He has improved as a passer.”

Dantley, who said he was surprised that the Lakers didn’t use two defenders on him from the start, thinks they’ll double-team him in Game 2 Thursday night.

“I don’t expect to score that many points Thursday night,” Dantley said. “I was surprised that they didn’t double-team me, but I think they’re going to double-team me now. They’re going to come early Thursday.”

Said Piston guard Isiah Thomas of Dantley: “This was his best game without a doubt. But it also helped that he wasn’t being guarded by a 6-11 player like he was against Boston. The Lakers made the comment that they were glad to see a smaller team. Well, so are we.”

Dantley, a two-time NBA scoring champion, has always been known for his offense, but the Pistons say that he has concentrated on defense this season.

And Dantley’s work ethic on defense was a key as the Pistons held the Lakers to 39.8% shooting from the floor.

“I’ve always played defense, but when people talk about me, they talk about my offense,” Dantley said. “The last time I played this hard on defense was in the 1976 Olympics. Defense is how we’ve been winning all our games this year. We don’t even think about offense.”

Although Dantley has been one of the NBA’s top players since he left Notre Dame, reaching the finals has made this season different.

Said Piston center Bill Laimbeer of Dantley: “He’s never been in the finals before and he’s taken a lot of abuse about it. People said that he wouldn’t go the extra step, but they were wrong.”