NBA Notes : Chuck Daly Has the Pistons Flying Right

Detroit Coach Chuck Daly, who never met a metaphor he didn’t like, sees the National Basketball Association season as one long, tumultuous airplane ride.

“I liken the coach’s job to that of the pilot,” Daly said Tuesday. “You take off in October and get it airborne. You enjoy some smooth sailing, not much though. There’s turbulence ahead, turbulence on the right and left. And somehow, you’ve got to try to land it at the end of the year.”

Give or take a minor brawl or two, Daly’s Pistons have been cruising through clear skies for about three weeks now. They’re moving freely about the plane.

Mark Aguirre and Isiah Thomas are sitting near the front, exchanging stories of their native Chicago. Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn are horsing around in the back. Joe Dumars is reading the stock pages.

And if you’ll look out the window to your left, you can probably make out Cleveland, which has just encountered some unexpected turbulence -- five losses in eight games -- and fallen behind Detroit for the first time in three months.

One month after trading Adrian Dantley for Aguirre, the Pistons are at cruising altitude. They’ve won eight straight games and 12 of 13, lifting their record to 44-16. They have the fewest losses, the top winning percentage in the league and appear to be bracing themselves for another run at the title.

“Yeah, but it’s no big deal,” Daly said. “I’ve been around a long time, and you just have to keep on doing your job. When you start getting involved in looking at what other people are doing, you lose focus of what you’re trying to do.”

Daly has been coaching for more than 30 years. At 58, he is the league’s oldest coach and its most relentless pessimist. Even when his team was going well, he was bemoaning its inconsistent offense, and that’s why he pushed to get Aguirre from Dallas.

“Offensively, we seem to be more in sync now,” Daly said. “We’re moving the ball a little better and making the extra pass -- at least in the last few weeks. (Aguirre) has been about what I expected. He’s a terrific offensive player. His passing has been a bit of a surprise. But he needs game conditioning and a lot of work defensively.”

Aguirre’s progress has been slow. In 14 games with Detroit, he’s averaging 17.1 points on 48.9 percent shooting. Still, whatever the reason, the Pistons have been a more effective team since his arrival, averaging five more points a game (109.9 to 104.9) without any significant decline in their defense.

Most telling is the way Thomas has responded to Aguirre’s presence. He has scored at least 20 points in each the last six games, averaging 25.5 points on 58.1 percent shooting. Saturday in Philadelphia, Thomas scored 24 points in the fourth quarter to lead Detroit to a come-from-behind victory. He had 15 in the final period of Tuesday’s win in Indiana.

Those are the sort of performances we’ve come to expect from Thomas in the postseason, and it’s a sure sign that Detroit is rounding into playoff form.

Oh, and lest we forget, the other half of last year’s championship series is also cruising. The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers have won five in a row and are just two games back of Detroit in the loss column.

The Lakers have come on with a vengeance since an embarrassing 105-79 loss in Utah Feb. 22, winning 9 of 10 by an average margin of 18 points. During a recent five-game road swing, their underrated defense held the opposition to an average of 95.4 points on 41.4 percent shooting.

“We are playing consistently, and our defense is good every night,” the Lakers’ James Worthy said. “That’s the big thing.”

The Lakers’ surge has coincided with the awakening of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who will turn 42 in a month. Two months ago, Abdul-Jabbar was averaging 8.8 points and shooting 43.2 percent. In 23 games since, he has averaged 13.0 points on 53.6 percent shooting. And he’s averaging 11 rebounds in his last three games.

Sacramento Coach Jerry Reynolds has fully recovered from his bout with exhaustion and is again filling notebooks with outrageous quotes.

On management’s dubious decision to trade his top two centers, Joe Kleine and LaSalle Thompson, without getting a pivotman in return: “If we had one more center, we’d have one. It’s a bacon-and-egg sandwich only if you have the egg.”

On newly acquired Danny Ainge: “He’s already the best guard in the history of the Sacramento Kings. And that should tell you something.”

On his team’s record-setting 16-for-31 performance from three-point range last month: “When the Knicks had the record, everybody talked about it. But since we took it over, they’ve ignored us -- which is just fine with me.”

In recent back-to-back blowouts over Seattle and Indiana, Chicago’s Michael Jordan averaged just 19.5 points. The reason? He was playing point guard. “It’s still a game-by-game decision (by Coach Doug Collins),” said Jordan, who had more assists (29) than field-goal attempts (28) in the two wins. “It’s not something I want to do all season because I’m a natural off guard.”

NBA Notes

The Celtics hope Oklahoma point guard Mookie Blaylock slips through the draft so they can pick him at No. 12 or 13. Having traded Ainge, Boston needs an off guard but wouldn’t pass up Blaylock if he were available.

There’s talk that Hornets Coach Dick Harter might coach in Portland next season. Harter coached for seven years at Oregon. ... Deposed Portland Coach Mike Schuler could wind up at Golden State. Schuler was an assistant with Don Nelson in Milwaukee. ... Dallas General Manager Norm Sonju says Roy Tarpley is making progress in drug treatment and could return for the playoffs. He must mean next year’s playoffs. With James Donaldson gone with a knee injury, Dallas is in grave danger of finishing ninth in the Western Conference.

Atlanta’s Dominique Wilkins has changed agents, which seems like an annual event. He’s joined ProServ, the Washington-based agency that also represents Patrick Ewing, Michael Jordan, James Worthy, John Stockton and Adrian Dantley. ... The Lakers’ Magic Johnson recorded his league-high 12th triple-double Tuesday against Houston with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists -- though he shot 4 for 23. ... Hornets center Tim Kempton won $200 from a columnist by stuffing an entire Burger King Whopper into his mouth. Kempton gave his winnings to charity.

An intriguing thought from Washington Bullets Coach Wes Unseld: “I can’t prove it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pistons pay all the fines for Mahorn, Laimbeer and Rodman. They like to foster this ‘tough guy’ image in Detroit.” ... Further reason for Spurs Coach Larry Brown’s headaches: The Clippers are 3-33 on the road, and the last two wins have been in San Antonio. ... The Knicks, who have won 26 straight at home, need five more to break the Celtics’ record of 31 straight in a single season. Boston won its final 31 home games in 1985-86 and its first seven in 1986-87 to set the league record of 38 over two seasons.