THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : LAKERS WIN SECOND CONSECUTIVE TITLE : ILL-TIMED MESSAGE : When Pistons Couldn’t Stop Scott in 3rd Quarter, Laimbeer Took Matters Into His Hands

The game, which had been under control for the Detroit Pistons just minutes earlier, was getting away. Byron Scott had just given the Lakers a 64-57 lead on a fast-break layup.

Momentum was swinging the wrong way, from where Bill Laimbeer stood. He had to do something about that. Or at least try.

So Bill Laimbeer, what about that unsportsmanlike conduct technical foul you received for grabbing Scott? With the National Basketball Assn. title on the line, is that the time to be acting the bad boy?

Well, now that you mention it. . . .

“I have no second thoughts about that,” said Laimbeer, whose technical helped the Lakers increase their lead to 67-57 with 6:09 left in the third quarter.

“I had to do that. Byron Scott was about to start the celebration, and I couldn’t let that happen. It was too early. He was about to jump up in the air and get the crowd excited.

“All I did was grab him so he couldn’t jump up.”

That, of course, got a reaction from the Forum crowd, which turned its attention to the Piston center with that unsportsmanlike sneer on his face.

With a snicker, Laimbeer shrugged off the memory of the boos and howls.

“It doesn’t matter what I do, the crowd’s always mad at me. I knew what the reaction would be.”

Indeed.

Of course, playing with abandon is a Laimbeer trademark.

When the Pistons came back from a 15-point deficit to put the game, and the championship, on the line one last time in the 11th hour of the seventh game, it was because they were playing with the kind of abandon that Laimbeer appreciates.

“We had to play as frantic as possible at the end,” Laimbeer said. “We just didn’t get it cranked up soon enough. When we play frantic, we play good defense . . . We make things happen.”

Like when he was sliding on the seat of his pants at midcourt, saving the long rebound of a shot missed by Vinnie Johnson with about a minute and a half to play. That play led to an 18-footer by Joe Dumars that pulled the Pistons to within 102-100.

Or when Laimbeer blocked a shot by James Worthy with 45 seconds left when the Lakers were ahead, 103-100.

Then there was the three-pointer that Laimbeer missed with just more than a minute to play. He ran it down, only to step out of bounds.

And there was the foul he had to commit with 14 seconds left that put Worthy on the free-throw line and resulted in a 106-102 Laker lead.

Laimbeer, who finished with 11 points and 9 rebounds, was playing with his last ounce of sweat down to the last second. He made a three-pointer with 6 seconds on the clock to pull the Pistons within a point, but A.C. Green’s breakaway layup ended the scoring and gave the Lakers the NBA championship with a 108-105 win.

Yet, even as the fans were pouring onto the court, Laimbeer was looking to pass the ball to someone breaking toward his basket.

No, there was no consolation in knowing that the Pistons had taken the defending champion Lakers to the final moments of the final game.

“Respect doesn’t mean anything if we don’t win,” Laimbeer said. “Everyone was afraid of us during the season. Among the players we had respect. We don’t need respect now, we need the ring.”

Laimbeer, the guy known throughout the league as the rich kid from Palos Verdes, says he’s changing his off-season plans a little bit this summer. Oh, there will be golfing and fishing as usual.

“But this summer I’m going to dedicate myself to coming back in the best condition I’ve ever been in,” he said.

He really wants to win the NBA title. Every year he gets a little closer.

“We were looking at this year the way you people seem to think we should be looking at next year,” Laimbeer said. “A year ago, after the Boston series, we knew we had what it took to win the championship. Division titles are nice. Conference titles are nice. But at the start of the year, (Coach) Chuck Daly was talking to us about making an assault on the championship.

“We tried. I think we played well. Just not well enough. We had fun. I think we were as good as the team that won it, but we just didn’t get a break or a bounce of the ball. We didn’t win it. They did.

“I’m glad I was here to see how it’s done. Now we’ll know how to act when we win it. . . . I’m not going to sit here and talk iffa, wudda, shudda. You can do that throughout the course of time. If Isiah (Thomas) hadn’t been hurt. . . . Or we shoulda done a lot of things. You play with what you’ve got, and you do the best you can. We did that.

“We just didn’t win this time.”

As he calmly discussed the turning points in the game, the ups and downs, Laimbeer kept coming back to the bottom line.

“We know that we didn’t win,” Laimbeer said. “When I went over to congratulate them, I could smell the champagne. I could see the media packed into their locker room and all the camera crews. That was the winning locker room.”

Laimbeer allowed Byron Scott to celebrate.