Ill Magic Makes Lakers Feel a Lot Better

This was no time for the leader of the pack to phone in sick.

Magic Johnson had the flu Thursday night, but the Lakers needed him desperately for several reasons.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was experiencing a shooting slump. How bad a slump? Well, pictures of Kareem’s skyhook were being printed on the sides of milk cartons.

The Lakers were down, 1-0, to the high-spirited Detroit Pistons, who were threatening to take over Greater Los Angeles. Wednesday afternoon, some of the Pistons visited Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion. Others made the rounds of local clubs.

What next? Dennis Rodman skippering the Queen Mary? Isiah Thomas riding the Matterhorn with Mickey Mouse?

The Pistons were frighteningly unimpressed with what could have been an intimidating situation. Thursday afternoon, Piston Coach Chuck Daly was seen poolside at the team’s hotel, snoring. Obviously paralyzed with fear.

Clearly this was nervous time for the Lakers, whose dynasty was hanging by, if not a thread, a fairly thin rope.

They needed Magic, and so he dragged his flu-ridden body onto the court and played one of the really big games of his career.

Twenty-three points, on 7-of-12 shooting, 9 for 9 from the line, 7 rebounds, 11 assists. And he played 42 of the 48 minutes.

Working with Kareem, Magic had the big play of the game, a back-door, give-and-go pass from Abdul-Jabbar for a layup and a 93-86 lead with 3:42 remaining in the game.

“The back-door play Earvin got us was the game,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said, “no doubt about it.”

Magic, remember, is still playing with a nagging groin injury, and life is tough enough without your groin nagging you. Throw in chronically creaky knees and tender Achilles’ tendons and you’ve got a 28-year-old man wearing a 107-year-old body.

Add to that mix a mysterious stomach flu that keeps you tethered to the restroom, and you’ve got a player held together by bubble gum and bailing wire.

He was a 45-r.p.m. record being played at 33, but that was enough to kill the Pistons.

“I don’t wish this on nobody,” Magic said, referring to his flu. “The other night (Tuesday) after the game, I had the chills and I was sweating a lot. And the other thing, going back and forth to the restroom every 20 minutes or so . . .

“The fever is gone, which is great, but it’s still in my stomach, and I’m still doing my routine, back and forth to the restroom.”

On the TV closeups of Johnson on the court, you may have noticed the usual Magic joie de vivre was replaced by the agonized look of a man pushing his out-of-gas Mercedes through Death Valley.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been tired after the first three or four minutes,” Magic said. “I had to pace myself for the first time ever. But if I showed my teammates I was sick, it would be a big letdown for them. I had to play.”

He was sent home from Wednesday’s practice and slept for about seven hours, then tossed and turned most of the night, between making those pit stops.

The morning of the game, he gave passing thought to the fact he might not be able to play, then kicked that idea out of his mind and lounged around on his sofa until time to leave for the Forum.

He went scoreless in the first quarter. But in the second, with the scored tied, Johnson scored six straight Laker points with two free throws, a push shot from 20 feet and a drive to the hoop.

After Abdul-Jabbar hit two free throws, Johnson drove through traffic again, made the layup, was fouled and converted for a five-point Laker lead. He closed out the half with a junior-junior-junior skyhook for a 10-point Laker lead.

Time was when Kareem’s skyhook was the Lakers’ ultimate weapon in crunch time, and the Big Fella still drops them in occasionally. But these days, the Lakers’ best move is to let Magic drive the lane. His 360-degree spins have been nullified by his groin injury, but he’s still a very dangerous man when loose in the lane.

That’s how it was he wound up shooting more free throws than any Laker but James Worthy, who had 11.

The Pistons had cut the Laker lead to 91-86 with four minutes left, when the Lakers ran an out-of-bounds play. Magic was supposed to get the shot in the corner, but Joe Dumars covered him closely, so Johnson lobbed into Abdul-Jabbar on the low post.

“Joe (Dumars) was denying me so much, I just went back door (along the left baseline),” Magic said.

Kareem fed Magic with a slick little pass, Johnson had an unmolested layup, and the series was tied.

“Goin’ back to Detroit oh-and-two would’ve been one of the deepest holes we’ve ever been in,” Johnson said. “I didn’t think I could do it (play effectively). Actually, I didn’t, but I couldn’t let the team down. They all look to me. If I’m up, they go. I had to keep pullin’ and pushin’ through it.”

Johnson was given a shot Wednesday, and another at halftime Thursday night.

“Uck, that’s nasty,” he said as he cooled out after the game with his usual assortment of ice packs strapped to most of the joints of his body.

“I was tired, it definitely hit me, I was really tired. But it’s happenin’ right now.”

For the next week, it’s happenin’ at the Animal House, otherwise known as the Pontiac Silverdome.

Should be a foreign court for the Lakers, but it’s near Magic’s hometown. Right in Mr. Johnson’s neighborhood. Can you say, “Home cooking,” boys and girls?

And by Game 3 Sunday, the flu should be over, and all Magic will have to deal with is that nagging groin and the pressure of National Basketball Assn. history riding on his shoulders.

Business as usual.