Lakers Hit a Hole on the Road, 104-94 : Pistons Take 3-2 Advantage as Series Heads Back to L.A.

The Detroit Pistons, who so far this spring have cut no slack for Michael Jordan, showed no quarter to the Boston Celtics, and even closed down their own domed domicile, the Silverdome, are within a game of crossing out the last name on their Motown hit list.

To finish the job, the Pistons still must have one bullet left in their chamber. But they left little doubt Thursday night that they have the Lakers centered in their cross-hairs after a 104-94 victory. The result, achieved before a National Basketball Assn. playoff-record crowd of 41,732, gave Detroit a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals.

No need to offer the Lakers a blindfold and last cigarette just yet: For Pat Riley’s guarantee of a repeat title to expire, the Pistons will have to beat the Lakers back at the Forum either Sunday in Game 6 or, should it become necessary, Tuesday night in Game 7.

“Here we are, going home,” Riley said. “It’s right in our hands with two home games. We either take care of business on Sunday, or throw it up.”

But Detroit already has beaten the Lakers once in the Forum in this series, and decisively at that, 105-93 in Game 1. And Thursday night, the Pistons proved eminently capable of withstanding what could have become a Laker meltdown--the Lakers zoomed to a 15-2 lead in the first 4:19--and did it without drawing so much as a drop of blood, despite a forecast of trouble under the Silverdome bubble.

The Lakers still cried foul, but their complaints had less to do with dirty play than with those assigned to prevent any outbreak of mayhem: referees Darell Garretson and Joe Crawford.

The Lakers said that this game swung wildly in Detroit’s direction--the Pistons, after spotting the Lakers a 12-0 lead, outscored them, 52-26, en route to a 59-50 halftime lead--when James Worthy, Michael Cooper and A.C. Green all drew three first-half fouls, all while essentially trying to guard the same player, Adrian Dantley, who scored 25 points, 19 in the first half, and took 13 trips to the free-throw line.

Worthy, who had just 7 points in the Lakers’ 25-point loss in Game 4, was taken out of the game early once again when he picked up his third foul at 7:09 of the first period on Dantley’s drive to the basket. Cooper picked up his third at 10:54 of the second period, and Green drew his third at 7:18.

“We came out focused, but our rhythm and concentration was broken by call after call after call,” Riley said.

“This is the second game in a row James has been taken out of the first half--he hasn’t been allowed to play the game.

“The way they (the Pistons) push and shove and grab and hold, it’s very frustrating. If there’s any one thing that affected us, it was their ability to do whatever they want on defense tactically, but as soon as we step up the aggressiveness, we get the b.s. call.

“It hurt us when we were up, 15-2, and three starters on the bench. Adrian Dantley gets as many offensive fouls getting in position as he gets calls against him.”

But those weren’t the striped shirts out-rebounding the Lakers by a 53-31 margin Thursday night, that was Bill Laimbeer (11 boards), John Salley (10), Dennis Rodman and Dantley (7 apiece). The Pistons had more offensive rebounds in the game (20) than the Lakers had defensive rebounds (15), which set a standard for fewest defensive boards in any finals game.

And those weren’t whistle-blowers coming off the Detroit bench. That was Vinnie Johnson (16 points), James Edwards (10 points in 15 minutes) and Rodman, who played 25 minutes of shirt-clutching defense on Magic Johnson, who had 17 assists but was able to make just 4 of 15 shots.

“We were the aggressors tonight,” Laimbeer said. “We drove the lane hard. A.D. (Dantley) drove the lane hard. We penetrated and we moved the ball quickly.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar kept the Lakers in the game offensively with 26 points, his playoff high this season, and Mychal Thompson had his most productive game of the finals with 14 points, but the Laker big men were no match for the Piston glass-scrapers.

“Don’t underestimate our size,” Laimbeer said. “We have great size. I’m 6-11. James Edwards is 7-1. Dennis Rodman is 6-8 and plays like a 7-footer. Salley is 7 feet and plays like he’s 7-2. And Ricky (Mahorn) is 6-10 and plays like he’s 5 feet wide.”

The Lakers were still within six, 90-84, after Byron Scott’s three-pointer from the left corner with 6:54 to play. Worthy followed with a block of a shot by Edwards, but the Laker forward had the ball stripped away in the lane, and the Pistons, with three shots at the basket on their next possession, finally converted when Isiah Thomas (15 points, 8 assists) banked a jumper in the lane.

Magic Johnson, who scored just one point in the final period on a night when he played 45 minutes, missed a left-handed hook, with Thomas grabbing the rebound and sending Joe Dumars--who had 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting--for a breakaway layup that restored Detroit’s double-digit lead.

After a Laker timeout, Magic misfired on another drive, Laimbeer collared the layup, and Thomas laid in another second shot to make it 96-84 with 4:23 left.

“The two biggest problems for us,” Riley said, “were our foul trouble in the first half and our inability to contain anybody on the boards.”

The Lakers had two defensive rebounds in the final quarter--the first by a guard, Scott, nine minutes into the period.

“Our rebounding was horrendous,” Riley said.

Dantley, meanwhile, was as splendid as he’s ever been in his two years in Detroit, according to Detroit Coach Chuck Daly.

“Adrian Dantley has been on a roll like I’ve never seen,” Daly said. “He was phenomenal getting to the basket and taking his outside shot.

“He’s a driven man.”

And an uncharacteristically emotional one at that, according to Salley.

“The most emotion he used to do was lift his fist,” Salley said. “Now he’s going crazy.”

There’s no question Dantley drove the Lakers to distraction, especially Worthy, who flashed his own prowess only once--with an explosive drive past Salley and a jam that knocked Laimbeer to the floor.

“I’m not the type of player who likes to sit on the bench,” Worthy said. “But all of a sudden, everybody has three fouls, and our spirit was taken away.

“I can’t understand it. He’s a post-up player. I’m a post-up player; so is Magic. I don’t understand why he gets the calls. . . . On the third foul, I thought I was in front of him. I went straight up, but he does a good job of coming into you. You have to give him credit for that.

“There’s a rule in the rulebook called the flop, and he’s the master of that.”

The Pistons supposedly are the master of the forearm smash, too, but that stuff never escalated into the guerrilla warfare that was anticipated.

“Just blowing smoke,” Laimbeer said. “I think when we play, the referees keep an eye out. Unfortunately for the Lakers, that worked to their disadvantage, because they’re the ones who got in foul trouble.”

Besides, the Pistons already have proven they’re the baddest team in the NBA. Now, they’re just a win away from showing they’re the best.

“You guys got to stop thinking that just because it ain’t the Celtics, that they don’t deserve to be up 3-2,” Thompson said. “They’re a hard-working team and they outplayed us two games here.”

Asked how he liked their chances of winning one in L.A., Daly wouldn’t bite.

“I’ve been around too long to anticipate anything,” Daly said. “We did it once--let’s see what happens.”

Laker Notes

Laker guard Michael Cooper, who was scoreless in 24 minutes Thursday night and has made just 3 of 28 shots in this series, has been receiving injections in his sprained left ankle before, and at halftime of, each Laker playoff game since the San Antonio series. . . . The Lakers missed 14 free throws out of 33 attempts; the Pistons were 28 of 33 from the line. . . . During the pregame shootaround, both teams had to compete with the heavy-metal bands warming up for tonight’s “Monsters of Rock” concert. . . . Still kissing: Isiah Thomas had a peck for Magic Johnson before Thursday’s opening jump. . . . Laker officials are asking that fans do not come to the airport to meet the team when it arrives in Los Angeles today. Plans are for the team to disembark on the runway and depart on a waiting bus to an undisclosed location. . . . Magic Johnson visited a children’s hospital for 45 minutes Thursday, at the request of a dying patient, Christopher Wilkes, who asked for a meeting with the Laker guard.