Lakers Repeat Their Title Feat : Lakers Are Worthy of Another One

And they’ll win it next year, too.

Not just because they have Earvin (Magic) Johnson, America’s Player, coming back for more, more, more.

Next year, too.

Not just because they have Kareem (Magic) Abdul-Jabbar, coming back for 1989’s Farewell Tour.

Next year, too.

Not just because they have Michael (Magic) Cooper, who, when all was said and dunked, was a friend in need and a friend indeed.

Next year, too.

Not just because they have Byron (Magic) Scott, who was hot from the first shot, and good to the last drop.

Next year, too.

Not just because they have A.C. (Another Championship) Green, a perfect fit as the last piece of the Laker puzzle.

Next year, too.

Not just because they have Mychal (Magic) Thompson, who is coming back for thirds.

Next year, too.

Because the Los Angeles Lakers next year--and the year after that, and the year after that--will still have James (Sometimes Even More Magic Than Magic Himself) Worthy, the nobleman from North Carolina, the feet-off-the-ground Tar Heel, the classical Gastonian, who went out Tuesday night and wrapped up not one, not two, but three National Basketball Assn. titles:

1. The NBA championship.

2. Most Valuable Player of the championship series.

3. Most Underrated Player of the Universe.

It was one of those nights, one of those crazy nights, when Worthy flew with the eagles. He scored 36 points. He seized 16 rebounds. He created 10 assists. He made two steals. He made 15 of 22 shots. He made the Detroit Pistons look as though they all had sprained ankles. He made sure that the Los Angeles Lakers had a double portion of magic potion, when one Magic wasn’t enough to stop these determined Detroiters by himself.

Worthy made moves that had Julius Erving sitting home saying: “How did he do that?” He made finger-rolls and left-handed curls and little tips with English on the ball. He made jump shots and double-pump shots. He dipped, he tipped, he swooped, he scooped, he whirled, he twirled. The human body isn’t supposed to be able to do what James Worthy’s does.

What a time for what was, evidently and unbelievably, the first triple-double of Worthy’s career. Does this guy pick his spots, or what?

What a night to get double-figure everything. What’s the matter, James--couldn’t you have blocked 10 shots? Couldn’t you have made 10 steals? Couldn’t you have made it a quadruple double, buddy?

OK.

Next year.

What a treat for Worthy and his whole family--from his wife, Angela, right down to his two puppies, Bossy and Hammer.

Poor James. Angela had never seen her husband so nervous before a ballgame. He left home so early, she didn’t even have time to show off her new dress.

James always wants to know where Angela is sitting at the Forum, just in case he has a chance to send over a wink or two. And she always wants to be there on the sidelines cheering for James, just as she did when she was a University of North Carolina cheerleader.

Angela Worthy has done some modeling since moving to California, so James gave her the opportunity to do some more when she got to the arena Tuesday night. She came down to courtside before the game, to let him know where her seat was. That was when he finally got to check out that new burnt-orange minidress of hers.

If he’d been a construction worker, he would have whistled.

Turn around, Worthy motioned with his finger. Give me a little spin.

Angela did. She did a nice little 360--sort of like her husband does around the basket, only his are in mid-air--and James gave his wife an admiring, approving once-over.

“He and I have never been so nervous before a game,” Angela said later. “I’m surprised we haven’t both floated away on butterfly wings.”

Next year.

There’s always next year.

Maybe Worthy was nervous, but once he got rolling in Game 7, nervous had nothing to do with it. The man can play, and play he did. The man is 6 feet 9 inches tall, but he plays taller. He plays 8-9. He plays 9-9. He hovers above the basket the way a police helicopter hovers above a suspect.

Without Worthy, where would the Lakers have been in the season’s biggest game? They would have been in second place, that’s where they would have been. He personally held them together in the first half, scoring 20 of the Lakers’ 47 points. They were down by five, and lucky it wasn’t 15. Worthy was the reason it wasn’t.

“He knew we needed him,” Magic Johnson said. “I like to call his number when he’s like this. I can see it in his eyes. He was going to show everybody he’s still the man.”

Worthy wouldn’t go as far as that.

“I wanted to give it all I had,” he put it, plainly and simply. “I just thought I’d come and give my contribution.”

Contribution. That was some contribution. Public television should get such contributions. This was James Worthy’s pledge night, and he came through. Came through when it counted most. Maybe this is supposed to be Magic’s Team. Kareem’s Team. Pat Riley’s Team. In Game 7 of the NBA Finals, though, the Los Angeles Lakers were Worthy’s Team.

“Did he get the MVP?” Abdul-Jabbar asked.

Yes, he was told.

“Great,” Kareem said. “I’m very happy for him. He’s come up a level every year. I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Worthy wouldn’t go that far on this subject, either.

“To be honest with you, it (the MVP award) means absolutely nothing, really,” he said. “I’ve always believed individual honors meant nothing compared to what the team itself does.

“But, I’ll accept it with all my heart, as something to cherish later on in life.”

Worthy won it all Tuesday night--the team thing, the individual thing, the whole thing.

Next year, too.

No, wait . . .

Next year, three.