THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : LAKERS WIN SECOND CONSECUTIVE TITLE : Lots of Characters--Even Al Davis--Play Roles in This Fantasy

Cinderella didn’t dance forever. Eventually, after the book and the movie, she faded off into the world of liposuction, Retin-A treatments and sensible shoes, leaving the fun to the next generation.

Sooner or later, the Lakers will fade back to reality; some day, they will slip quietly back into the pack of mere mortals that make up the second division of the NBA, consisting of the other 22 teams.

But for now, the music plays on. Instead of dancing cheek to cheek, this dance is back to back.

The Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons, 108-105, Tuesday night in the seventh game--what else?--of the NBA Finals, and floated off the Forum court, the living symbol of athletic excellence in the 1980s.

Hey, Riles. Pat Riley. The nation’s press has come to look upon you, somewhat cynically, as the Sultan of Psychobabble, the Maestro of Motivation. But you keep showing up every June with champagne in your hair and diamond rings on your fingers. You can no longer be dismissed as a fluke, the lucky stiff along for the ride.

Can you explain your relationship with this team?

“They’ve always inspired me to inspire them,” Riley said.

“I challenged the team,” he added. “They probably took more from me than they deserved to. They went along with it. I tell ‘em they gotta take it, they can’t be above it. I always said that their greatest asset is to take that criticism.”

Did you ever go too far?

“After Game 3 of the Utah series,” Riley said, referring to a scathing postgame critique in the Conference semifinals. “I said to (assistant coach Bill) Bertka, ‘Bill, go check the wounded, see how much damage I did.’ ”

Not much, apparently. Your guys beat the Jazz, then the Mavericks, then the Pistons. Seven games per series. Your guys sort of got in a rut.

“This was the toughest playoff series I’ve ever been involved in,” said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, after his 222nd career playoff game. “The contrast this year was dramatic. It was rough every step of the way.”

Right to the end, and was this a crazy series? Well, it came down to the last game, the Pistons praying for a miracle, with Isiah Thomas being rushed to Lourdes West, otherwise known as the L.A. Raiders’ El Segundo headquarters, to get his ankle repaired by the Raiders staff of physicians, therapists and faith healers.

Was Raider boss Al Davis risking treason charges in his home city of Los Angeles by aiding and abetting and healing the enemy?

“We do it for any sport,” Al (Florence Nightingale) Davis said Tuesday night from his courtside seat. “We just love the athletes.”

And who knows, maybe Isiah can play quarterback. Or is it too crazy an idea to steal a superstar from another sport?

Funny how things work out, though. Isiah--praise the Raiders!--actually played, and he got the running game going Tuesday night, but it was the wrong team’s running game.

When Thomas, shaking off that near-fatal ankle sprain to play a great first half, missed his first two jump shots of the third quarter, the Lakers used the rebounds as a launching pad for their fast break.

Remember that thing? Showtime and all that? It lives. Anyway, on behalf of the Lakers. Thanks, Al.

And hey, Coop. Michael Cooper. Welcome back to the land of the living. I looked up the definition of clutch in the dictionary and saw your picture.

Your set shot has been the Judge Crater of basketball shots in this series, but it returned from vacation just in time for the kill Tuesday.

You bury a pair of three-point bombs in the second half, when half the Forum crowd was praying you wouldn’t shoot and the other half was praying you’d at least hit an inanimate object. The Masons have rescinded their membership offer.

And hey, James. James Worthy. I like Dominique Wilkins, but I’m starting to think the Lakers made the right choice five years ago in the draft. You’re the most unspectacular spectacular guy in hoops. Champagne James.

On behalf of the fans, I urge you to hold off a few years on your dream career as a mortician, although your talent was obvious Tuesday night in neatly burying the Pistons.

Hey, Magic. You’ve had better games. On one play, your pal Isiah outsprinted you badly downcourt, proving that if you have to have an injury, better a terminally sprained ankle than a gimpy groin.

All you had Tuesday night was 19 points and 14 assists, and the two free throws that made the score 102-98 with 1:54 remaining in the game. What can I say? Nice decade.

And hey, Jerry West, the general manager who, if worry could be harnessed, could supply enough power to light Paris: Sit down and relax, already.

You’ve been saying all year that the Lakers would win it all, so why so nervous? The guys you brought in, Byron Scott and Worthy, played OK, 57 total points Tuesday night. Your guy A.C. Green carried the rebounding load through the playoffs. But you knew it would be like this, didn’t you?

“I just thought it was our year, I don’t know why,” West said in a corner of the Laker locker- room/champagne cellar. “This team just has a special quality, a resiliency. I just felt confident all year long.”

West, you must have told me five times this season that too many people lack faith in the team, that it’s not too old to win, and, most of all, that this is a special group of people, a team that should be appreciated for its greatness. You said the kind of run the team has had this decade is nothing short of incredible. Once in a lifetime stuff.

Maybe now is a good time for the dozens or thousands or millions who didn’t share your unshakeable confidence, to sit back and appreciate what’s been going down here.

Maybe it’s even time for the Lakers to sit back and appreciate it.

“We’re not coming to training camp next year,” Riley said, his hair perfectly in place even though soaked with champagne.

No more guarantees?

“Pat tried to say something,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said, referring to the guarantee question. “I had to stuff a towel in his mouth.”

Nice idea, Big Fella. This is no time for talking. The dance music is still playing.