THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : LOS ANGELES LAKERS vs. DETROIT PISTONS : Fist Is Up, and Finally Hook Goes Down : On a Night When He Misses First 5 Shots, Kareem Hits the One That Counts

It’s a play that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson began running before the 41-year-old Laker center went bald: Magic draws two defenders to him and then flips the ball to Kareem for a skyhook.

The play, designated “fist up” in the Laker playbook, has become a staple of Coach Pat Riley’s offense. The defending world champions usually go to it in situations where they need a sure basket, and they were in need of a quick hoop after the Detroit Pistons, who had trailed by 12 in the third quarter, were down, 93-90, with 3:09 left in Thursday night’s game at the Forum.

The Lakers called a timeout after Piston swingman Dennis Rodman scored on a breakaway dunk off a pass from Isiah Thomas to cut the Lakers’ lead to three points in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

Riley diagrammed the “fist-up” play, and Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar ran it to perfection as the Laker center sank a 10-foot skyhook from the right side to give the Lakers a 95-90 lead with 2:44 remaining.

“It was a big play,” Johnson said. “I had the option of keeping the ball and cutting to the basket or passing to Kareem. But when I saw his man come over to pressure me, I gave it up to Cap (Abdul-Jabbar).”

The Pistons never recovered after Abdul-Jabbar delivered the knockout hook as the Lakers evened the best-of-seven series at one game apiece with a 108-96 win over the Pistons.

Coach Chuck Daly of the Pistons called Abdul-Jabbar’s big shot one of the keys to the Lakers’ win.

“He played outstanding tonight,” Daly said of Abdul-Jabbar, who had 15 points and 1 rebound. “He was offensive-minded and aggressive.”

Said Piston center James Edwards, a former Laker who once served as Abdul-Jabbar’s understudy: “He (Abdul-Jabbar) hit more shots tonight. He was still shooting airballs on a couple of his hooks, but he made the shot when it counted.”

Bill Laimbeer, Detroit’s starting center, said: “You knew that he (Abdul-Jabbar) wasn’t going to play as bad as he did Tuesday night. He hit the big shot for them.”

Abdul-Jabbar, who missed 9 of 13 shots in the Lakers’ 12-point opening-game loss to the Pistons, got off to another horrible start.

After missing four straight skyhooks to open the game, Abdul-Jabbar was benched with 3:53 remaining in the first quarter when Riley inserted Mychal Thompson into the game.

“I took him out to give him a rest,” Riley said. “But he brought us here, and he’s going to take us there again. I’ll be damned if at this point in my career and his career that I’m not going to go with him.

“He’s going to come through like he did tonight when he hit that big hook.”

Abdul-Jabbar returned 1:13 into the second quarter and quickly missed his fifth straight shot, bumbling a pretty pass under the basket from Johnson.

Abdul-Jabbar ended the streak of missed shots when he made a 10-foot skyhook with 9:50 left in the first half.

“I don’t know why it (the skyhook) wasn’t going in,” Abdul-Jabbar said as he made a quick exit from the Forum with his son, Amir. “I’m just glad we won it.”

Although his shot wouldn’t fall early in the game, Abdul-Jabbar was at his best in crunch time when the game was on the line.

He wound up making 6 of 15 shots and hit 3 of 4 free throws.

“We really had to tough it out tonight,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “It was kind of ugly. I’m glad we won. I thought we got a good defensive effort, and we didn’t let one player dominate like Adrian Dantley did the other night. We had good defensive pressure.”

Guard Byron Scott, who scored 24 points for the Lakers, thinks Abdul-Jabbar has finally broken out of his slump, which has lasted through most of the 1988 playoffs.

“He returned to true form tonight,” Scott said of Abdul-Jabbar. “I think you’re going to see the real Abdul-Jabbar in Detroit. He’s the captain, and the captain always comes through in the clutch.”