THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : LOS ANGELES LAKERS vs. DETROIT PISTONS : ANYBODY SEE ISIAH? : Double-Teaming by Lakers Takes Mr. Piston Out of His Usual Takeover Role

Let’s see, there was the Microwave, the Worm, Spider, A.D. and McNasty. There was that surprise starter, Bill Laimbeer, and all the rest of the Pistons.

But where was Isiah?

Isiah Thomas, Mr. Piston, the acrobatic elf who is supposed to take over down the stretch of close games like this one, didn’t disembark from a limo in front of the Forum Club, or from a courtesy jitney bus from a nearby hotel, or arrive at all.

The Isiah who showed up here Thursday night largely contented himself playing floor leader. He barely looked for his own shot, and most of the ones he found, he missed.

He was 5 for 14, scoring 13 points, in Thursday night’s 108-96 loss to the Lakers. He is 11 for 30 in the series, suggesting one of two scenarios when the teams resume play Sunday at the Silverdome:

--The Lakers are in big trouble.

--Or, look for a revival of that “Isiah Thomas is an overrated superstar” talk.

What happened?

Those desperate Lakers trapped. Those sneaky Lakers zoned off the middle (illegally, the Pistons said). Thomas kept getting caught out front, 35 feet from the hoop, with the shot clock running down to :00 and two Lakers doing jumping jacks a half-inch outside his rib cage.

Once he threw up a desperation 35-foot hook that landed about 15 feet to the right of the basket on the baseline. It isn’t known whether this was scored as a missed shot or a bad pass.

“The only one I’ve seen make that is Magic,” said Thomas later, giggling.

Another time, he busted through the double-team to launch a running, banked, straight-on 23-footer. Surprise, it missed.

Actually, if you throw out those two misses, and a couple of others that he had to squeeze off from long range to beat the clock, he’d have had a nice, quiet 5 for 10, which leads to another point: Why did he stop shooting?

Isn’t he the one with carte blanche to take over?

Not on this night. With 1:35 gone in the second half, he danced prettily down the baseline for a picture Isiah layup . . . and then didn’t put up another shot for 17:55. He spent six minutes of that time sitting down with foul trouble, but that left 11 minutes for him to try to take this sucker in hand.

Once, standing under the basket with the ball on a 2-on-1 fast break, he even chose to pass the ball back to a streaking John Salley for the dunk, rather than take it up himself. Thomas may have been criticized before for taking too many shots, but this was carrying floor generalship a long way, indeed.

He is supposed to take over, isn’t he?

“That’s usually how it goes, yes,” Thomas said later, handling the discussion of his off-night gracefully. “Tonight, most of the basketball game, they double-teamed and I had to dish it.

“I was looking for the opportunity (to try to take the game over), but it didn’t really present itself. I had to stay within the confines of the game, make sure we got a good shot every time down the court.”

And if the Lakers keep trapping and making him get rid of the ball?

“I just have to be smart enough to utilize everybody on my team. Instead of Adrian (Dantley) scoring 30 points and me scoring 25, seven or eight guys will score 7-8-10-11-12.”

Anyway, Thomas’ coach, Chuck Daly, said Isiah played it right.

“I think he made the plays,” Daly said. “He was playing well.”

If he keeps playing that well, Isiah can bid All-Star weekend goodby, but then, this is only a partial result. The Pistons are going home, not unhappily.

“It’s simple,” Thomas said. “We win our home games and we win the NBA championship.

“Our crowd has to be definitely in the game, and be as abusive as possible.”

And so he bade farewell to the West Coast. He may have definitely been in the game, but he hadn’t been as abusive as possible, and the natives were grateful.