Despite Cold, Magic Is Hot in Laker Win Over Trail Blazers

This being the flu season, which naturally coincides with the National Basketball Assn. season, Magic Johnson took all the necessary measures to play on a rainy night when he probably felt like calling in sick.

Feeling ill, Johnson missed the Lakers’ morning workout, but hardly anything else Friday. Johnson drank plenty of fluids, then sank plenty of shots. He fed the cold, as they say, and generously fed the ball to teammates.

In the end, however, it was the Portland Trail Blazers who felt worse. All Johnson did was score 17 of his 29 points in the first quarter, as the Lakers recorded an easy 140-129 victory before a Forum crowd of 17,505.

Clutching a cup of orange juice and sniffling while sitting at his locker afterward, Johnson certainly did not look well. But, on the court, he was as strong as ever in helping the Lakers build a comfortable early lead that they never relinquished.

“I’ve been kind of sick,” said Johnson, who made 10 of 15 shots. “I was just hoping I’d have the energy to play. You never know until you walk out on the court.

“But once I’m out there, I don’t even think about being sick. Once you hit the floor, you do your job. I still don’t feel well, but I’ll be all right. Hopefully, it won’t go into the flu stage.”

On this night, quality performances were contagious. In addition to Johnson’s 29 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds, James Worthy had 21 points, A.C. Green 20 points and 11 rebounds and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 15 points.

So dominant were the Lakers that Coach Pat Riley went to his bench early and often, and the bench responded by not letting Portland seriously threaten.

It was the Lakers’ third consecutive victory over the Trail Blazers at the Forum this season, their second straight blowout win. This one enabled the Lakers (31-14) to increase their Pacific Division lead to 3 games over the Phoenix Suns and the Seattle SuperSonics. Both lost Friday night.

“It was a bounce-back game at home for us,” said Riley, referring to Wednesday night’s 17-point loss at Phoenix. “Our first half was about as good as we played all season, I have to say that. We kept driving the ball to the basket and kept the pressure on.

“I didn’t want any lingering effects from the Phoenix game. It was a matter of coming in mentally tenacious.”

The only thing Johnson brought back from the just-concluded trip, in which the Lakers won 2 of 3 games, was the beginnings of a cold.

“I started feeling ill on the road,” Johnson said. “But I wanted to play tonight.”

The Trail Blazers wish he had stayed home.

Johnson made all 5 shots in the first quarter, 1 coming from 3-point range. He also made all 6 free-throw attempts, and ended the quarter by making a behind-the-back pass to Mychal Thompson underneath for an easy basket.

Shortly thereafter, the Lakers pulled away and Portland was well on its way to losing for the 23rd time in the last 24 games against the Lakers at the Forum.

The Lakers had a 22-point halftime lead, extended it to 25 early in the third quarter and, despite liberal use of the reserves from that point, never saw the lead dip below 12.

In totaling 140 points, their second-highest total this season, the Lakers received 47 points from their bench.

Leading the reserve charge was guard David Rivers, who played 15 minutes in Johnson’s place and had 10 points and 5 assists.

Third-string center Mark McNamara made a rare third-quarter appearance and finished with 7 points, and Thompson (9 points), Orlando Woolridge (9) and Tony Campbell (8) also contributed. Going mostly with reserves to start the second quarter, the Lakers increased the lead from 9 to 15 points.

It was 52-41 when Riley re-inserted 3 starters 5 1/2 minutes into the quarter.

Then, in the third quarter, a 22-point Laker lead dipped to 16 when Riley used Thompson and McNamara in place of Green and Abdul-Jabbar.

“The hope is (Riley) gets enough confidence in us so that he can go with us in key situations,” McNamara said. “Then, we could keep things status quo for a while. That helps all of us. We (the reserves) get some minutes, and (the starters) get some rest.”

Rivers, playing more lately because of the illness that has sidelined Byron Scott, is starting to show signs of improvement after a rocky first half of the season. Friday night, Rivers made 5 of 7 shots, and his 5 assists offset 3 turnovers.

“We’re going to have to live with that up and down (performances) with David,” Riley said. “There are three things he has to show us to be a good point guard in this league. He has to penetrate and finish off plays, hit the open jumpers and make his free throws.

“We know he can penetrate and make free throws, but he’s got to prove he can make the jumper.”

The Trail Blazers, led by center Kevin Duckworth, who had 25 points, and Kiki Vandeweghe, who had 20, made 53% of their shots. But still, the Lakers dominated by holding a 45-35 rebounding advantage and forcing 11 first-half turnovers.

“You can see it in their faces, in their eyes,” Portland Coach Mike Schuler said of the Lakers. “At home, the Lakers are tough to beat. They are always focused on what they have to do. Our players had to be ready for that, ready for their pressure. They weren’t.”

Laker Notes

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 15 points left him 1 shy of 38,000 for his career. . . . Byron Scott, out with internal bleeding, will work out on his own today and will be evaluated before Sunday’s game. . . . The Lakers have outrebounded opponents for the 10th time in the last 11 games. . . . Mychal Thompson made just 3 of 8 shots, lowering his NBA-best field-goal percentage to 59.1%.