THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : LOS ANGELES LAKERS vs. DETROIT PISTONS : A.C. Takes Off When Given Green Light : Left Wide Open, Laker Forward Scores 21 Points

Coach Pat Riley of the Lakers was the first to congratulate A.C. Green after the power forward had the best playoff game of his three-year pro basketball career.

“Keep shooting the jump shot, A.C.,” Riley told Green, who had just finished a TV interview outside the Laker locker room. “Shoot the jump shot.”

Green, who had been reluctant to shoot during the National Basketball Assn. playoffs, had taken Riley’s advice Sunday afternoon against the Detroit Pistons.

Green had a career-playoff high of 21 points as the Lakers whipped the Pistons, 99-86, in Game 3 of the NBA Finals at the Silverdome.

“A.C. was more active than a tadpole out there today,” said forward Mychal Thompson of the Lakers. “He ran the floor like (sprinter) Ben Johnson. A.C. reminds me of a miler because he’s so tireless.

“A.C. can shoot, but he’s been reluctant to shoot because he doesn’t want to feel like he’s taking shots away from Buck (Magic Johnson) and ‘Cap (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and J.W. (James Worthy). If he was more selfish, he could score like this all the time.”

The Pistons gambled on defense by leaving Green open, pulling a defender off Green to double-team other Lakers such as Worthy and Abdul-Jabbar. Green burned Detroit by hitting 9 of 11 shots from the floor. He made 3 of 6 free throws, got 8 rebounds and had 1 assist in 41 minutes.

“I spent all year looking for my shot, but it just hasn’t been there in the playoffs,” Green said. “I think I took a step in the right direction today as far as taking the open shot. Pat has been telling me all year long to shoot the ball. But sometimes I don’t think I’m open when he thinks I’m open. Today I was trying to shoot everything I got. I kept getting in the right position and Earvin (Johnson) and the guards kept hitting me in the right position.

“Coach has all the confidence in the world in me. There really is a green light for me to shoot.”

Said Riley: “They didn’t guard A.C. They doubled off him, and he can shoot the hell out of the ball from the outside. I’d like to see A.C. get 14 shots a game, but if he took 14 shots a game Kareem would take him aside and tell him that he was getting five of his shots.”

Said Abdul-Jabbar, who had 12 points and 7 rebounds: “If they’re not going to guard him (Green), he’s going to play like that all the time. That’s what happens when you don’t expect someone like A.C. to take advantage of not being played (guarded). That always burns you.”

The Lakers weren’t surprised that Green, who averaged just 10 points through their first 19 games of the playoffs this season, had a big game against Detroit. After scoring just one basket in the first quarter, Green scored eight points in the second quarter and he had eight points in the third as the Lakers took control. He added three points in the final quarter.

“A.C. is a good player,” said Laker guard Byron Scott. “He did a great job today. He beat them up and down the court. He played a complete game.”

Green got open for easy layups as the Lakers demolished the Pistons with a devastating fast break. He scored 10 points on 5 layups at the finishing end of the fast break.

“When A.C. is playing well, he makes us a different team because A.C. can score and today he was looking to score,” said Johnson, who had 14 assists as he directed the Laker fast break. “He got out on the break and he found the openings to shoot, not only on the break but in our half-court offense.”

Said Green: “Earvin kept hitting me with passes underneath the basket, and you don’t pass up those shots.”

Said Worthy, who scored a game-high 24 points as the Lakers took a 2-1 lead over Detroit in the best-of-seven series: “I’m not surprised that A.C. played well. He’s played like this before. It was just a matter of getting him involved in the offense.”

Green, who was embarrassed after forward Adrian Dantley of the Pistons scored 34 points, mostly against him, in the series’ opening game, also did a good job of holding Dantley in check.

Leon (the Barber) Bradley, a longtime Piston fan who heckles Detroit opponents from his front-row seat behind the visiting bench, got on Green’s case early in the game, but Green shut him up by shutting down Dantley.

Dantley, who scored 14 points, was limited to 2 points in the second half as the Lakers outscored the Pistons, 52-40, in the final two quarters.

“I love a challenge, and guarding A.D. is a challenge,” Green said. “I got burned in the first game, but I didn’t give up. It’s like a war. A.D. may have won the first battle, but I’m going to keep fighting.

“A.D. played extremely well in the first game and most of his points came off me. I don’t want to lose because my man has a big game. Today we double-teamed him some, and we tried to confuse them by running stunts. We just tried to disrupt him and get to him before he got a wide-open shot.”

Said Dantley: “We helped A.C. He played real well, but we doubled off him and left him open. He played a good game though.”

Detroit forward John Salley said the Pistons will probably cover Green honestly in Game 4 Tuesday night.

“We were double-teaming off A.C. (in the first two games of the series), and I guess the Lakers watched the films and took advantage of it,” Salley said. “You expect A.C. to come in and get rebounds, you don’t expect him to score like he did today. But he was a big factor; a very big factor.”