There’s No Magic Finish for the Lakers : Detroit Rallies to Win in Final Minutes, 111-103

As the chance of a Laker victory over the Detroit Pistons became apparent Tuesday night at the Forum, Magic Johnson’s activity level at the end of the bench increased accordingly.

Squirming and cheering was about all Johnson, out with a partially torn left hamstring, could do. The Lakers had to try to beat their nemesis on their own.

But in the final minute, where Johnson’s impact usually is never greater, the Lakers simply did not have enough to prevent the Pistons from securing a 111-103 victory in their first local appearance since losing Game 7 of last season’s championship series.

Tuesday night’s rematch had elements of a playoff-type game, the intensity clearly heightened on the court and echoed by a Forum crowd of 17,505. But the missing ingredient, from the Lakers’ viewpoint, had to be Johnson, whose leadership and productivity might have made the difference.

In the final 2:15, the Lakers were outscored, 13-2. They saw a 101-100 lead, which two minutes earlier was five points, dissolve by making two turnovers, missing shots and breaking down on the defensive backboards.

All the talk about the difference Johnson might have made won’t change the fact that the Pistons have swept the two-game regular-season series from the Lakers, which might have some importance should the teams meet again in the finals.

“Obviously, they are a different club with (Johnson),” Piston Coach Chuck Daly said. “We’re aware of that. The guy’s the MVP of the league. But we couldn’t be concerned with that. We’re a mature team. We can win close games.”

Detroit (32-13) certainly showed that with an impressive late surge that saddled the Lakers (32-16) with two straight home losses for the first time since the 1983-84 season. Not coincidentally, both were close losses without the benefit of Johnson in the lineup.

Still, the Pistons made the big plays, and the Lakers didn’t.

Joe Dumars’ rainbow jump shot gave Detroit a 102-101 lead with 1:53 left, and then Kareem Abdul-Jabbar commited a turnover to give the Pistons a chance to pad the lead, which they did on two free throws by Isiah Thomas.

After Abdul-Jabbar, who scored a season-high 21 points, sank a skyhook with 1:11 left, Dennis Rodman followed a Dumars miss with 47 seconds to play to restore the Pistons’ three-point lead at 106-103.

Michael Cooper, starting at point guard in place of Johnson, missed a three-point attempt. On the other end, Rodman, underneath the basket, took an excellent pass from Thomas and dunked away any Laker hopes of a victory.

That gave Detroit a 108-103 lead with 22 seconds left, and Rodman punctuated his dunk by raising an index finger skyward. A pair of free throws by Thomas and Bill Laimbeer cemented an eight-point Piston victory that was a lot closer than that.

While the natural temptation might have been to think about Johnson’s absence in analyzing the defeat, most Lakers chose not to do so. At the same time, Coach Pat Riley brushed aside talk of a moral victory in coming close without the club’s leading scorer and playmaker.

“We can’t wait for Earvin (to return),” Riley said. “We can’t be saying that. We got to win without him. You win or you perish. We’ll be all right. We’ll win.”

For perhaps 46 minutes, the Lakers played well enough to beat any team in the league, including Detroit.

The Lakers received 33 points from James Worthy, used both at forward and big guard. Worthy equaled his season high in 44 minutes. Perhaps tiring, though, Worthy attempted only one shot in the final five minutes.

Orlando Woolridge, counted on to provide instant offense off the bench, responded with 19 points in 24 minutes. Rookie point guard David Rivers had seven assists in 15 minutes but was used sparingly in the second half because of foul trouble.

Overlooking his turnover in the final minute, Abdul-Jabbar played perhaps his most dominant game of the season against a quality opponent. Showing no ill effects from a hyper-extended right elbow in practice Monday, Abdul-Jabbar made eight of 17 shots, including three crucial skyhooks in the final 5:17.

The Pistons seemed more impressed by the Lakers’ play without Johnson than the Lakers were.

“They played great, even without Earvin,” said John Salley, who had a big steal off Woolridge with 3:20 left that led to a Pistons’ basket. “That’s the kind of team they have. You know they are going to play you tough.

“I guess it was a big win . . . considering what happened last year. This game reminded me a little of Game 6, when we had a chance to win it. This time, we made the plays.”

Riley would not use Johnson’s absence as an excuse.

“What broke down at the end was giving up too many second shots, that and the two turnovers (Woolridge’s and Abdul-Jabbar’s),” Riley said. “But I don’t fault our play at the end. I don’t look at this (loss) as anything negative. We had our shots at the end to win it. We played 45 minutes of good defense, then broke down a little.”

Said Worthy, who made 13 of 23 shots and had 10 rebounds: “It’s a shame to play as well as we did and give it away. We can’t dwell on it.”

Not surprisingly, Detroit’s backcourt outscored the Lakers’.

Thomas played one of his best games in some time, scoring 23 points and tying his season high with 15 assists. Dumars, seemingly fully recovered from a broken bone in his hand, also had 23 points, making 9 of 15 shots.

Conversely, the Lakers’ starting backcourt of Cooper and Byron Scott combined for just 15 points. Cooper made 2 of 11 shots, Scott 4 of 11.

“We’ve got to deal with the matter that (Johnson) won’t be there for a while,” Scott said. “We’ll have to go out and win without him. Defensively, we played great tonight. We showed we could win.”

But not against the Pistons on this night.

This was Detroit’s first regular-season sweep of the Lakers, and the first time the Pistons have won the season series since 1974-75.

All of which, according to Daly, means little.

“It’s great,” Daly said. “We’ve got two wins from them. That just means we’re two games closer to Cleveland (in the Central Division).”

Laker Notes

Part of Magic Johnson’s rehabilitation Tuesday morning for his partially torn left hamstring was running four miles around the corridors of the Forum with trainer Gary Vitti during the team’s shoot-around. Vitti also said Johnson lifted weights in an attempt to maintain his condition. Johnson will be evaluated by Dr. Robert Kerlan again Friday, when it will be determined whether he will be able to play Sunday against the Boston Celtics. “I feel a lot better, but I still feel it,” Johnson said before Tuesday night’s game. “I ran today, but they wouldn’t let me sprint, nothing wide open, no cutting, because (the injury) is still there. It’s a tough situation. Here I am, wanting to play and I can’t. I’m probably my worst enemy, which is my biggest problem now. I’m not ready to play, and I could go out there and do something to hurt it. So, for the first time, I have to watch myself.” Johnson said that, contrary to some rumors in Houston over the weekend that he faked the injury to allow Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to make the All-Star team, it is real and painful injury. “I wanted to be there (at Houston),” he said. “I wanted to play bad. I love (Abdul-Jabbar) dearly, but I wouldn’t have faked an injury to do that. I like playing (in the All-Star game) too much.” . . . Abdul-Jabbar said that the hyper-extended right elbow that he suffered Monday responded well to treatment and that it did not bother him Tuesday. “I was worried that it would swell up, because that’s what happened the last time I did it,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “I can move it all right now.” This has been a recurring injury for Abdul-Jabbar. It forced him to miss a game Nov. 23 at Miami after being hit in the elbow the night before in New York. “The condition began three or four years ago,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “Every so often, if it gets hit in a certain way, it swells up. When I injured it in Madison Square Garden, it swelled like crazy. It didn’t do that this time.” The Lakers are off today and play at Portland Thursday night.