Relieved Lakers Win 8th Straight Division Title

The Lakers are beyond such gestures as popping champagne corks over something as routine as another division title, so it was mainly with a sense of immense relief Friday night that they celebrated the clinching of their eighth straight Pacific Division championship.

Their 121-114 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, a team they might meet in the playoffs’ first round, combined with Phoenix’s loss to the Houston Rockets, gave the Lakers the title outright. They lead the persistent Suns by two games with one to play, so they can finally forget all those tiebreaking rules.

In the process, the Lakers also assured themselves of the home-court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs, which was about as strong an incentive as the two-time defending NBA champions can muster during the regular season.

“I knew we were going to do it,” said Magic Johnson, who guaranteed as much three games ago. “This team has met so many challenges, and this is just another one of them. This is a championship team, and we know what we have to do.

“We don’t need champagne to celebrate tonight. We’ve been celebrating these things now for eight or nine years in a row. It’s just one goal, the first one, and now we got it.”

Not without some anxious moments in the last two weeks. The Suns put together a long winning streak, steadily eroding a Laker lead once thought impregnable.

And while many Lakers expressed confidence all along, some admitted to stabs of doubt recently.

“This one was a little different,” Byron Scott said. “You appreciate it a little more, I guess. But the thing I liked is that we didn’t back into it. We won it ourselves, outright. Phoenix kind of came out of nowhere to have a great season, but we really didn’t doubt ourselves.”

It took 56 victories for the Lakers to repel the Suns’ threat. The Lakers saw their lead dwindle to a half-game three times in the last week, but they never relinquished it.

At times, it seemed the Lakers only really got interested when the Suns pushed them to the limit. So, as Coach Pat Riley theorized afterward, the divisional race may have helped put the Lakers in their playoff mode a little earlier than usual.

“At times, this team played bored,” Riley said. “At times, we were depleted, but I trust this team. There’s been a lot of attention in the media that we might be slipping, but it is foolish not to stay with this team.

“Even a veteran team has to develop and sustain confidence, and I think that is what we have done this week. We had to go out and win it, and that’s what we did. We’ll probably finish three wins short of 60, and I’m satisfied with that.”

In a way, Friday night’s division clincher, before 12,880 at Memorial Coliseum, was a microcosm of this erratic, but ultimately successfull, regular season for the Lakers. They sprinted out to an early lead, struggled in the middle, then eventually pulled through when it counted.

On this night, they had to overcome a 43-point effort by Portland’s Clyde Drexler, who tried singlehandedly to make up for the absence of ailing center Kevin Duckworth.

Drexler was superb. Playing 44 minutes, he made 19 of 29 shots, and had 11 rebounds and seven assists. But not even Drexler, who fell seven points shy of equaling his season-high scoring total, could overcome the Lakers’ team effort.

Johnson led the Lakers with 23 points and 10 assists, and he sank a three-point shot with 1:40 to play that gave the Lakers an 11-point lead, virtually finishing the Trail Blazers’ comeback hopes.

Scott and James Worthy added 20 and 18 points, respectively, while A.C. Green contributed 12 points and 12 rebounds. Green was a catalyst in the fourth-quarter stretch run, converting two offensive rebounds into baskets in a 47-second span.

As well as the starters played, the Lakers’ big contribution came off the bench. Mychal Thompson scored 17 points in 29 minutes as a replacement for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who suffered a bruised right knee that he later termed minor. And Orlando Woolridge spelled Worthy, scoring 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

All told, the Laker reserves outscored the Trail Blazers’ bench, 44-27.

The Laker bench made its presence felt early. While most of the starters rested, the reserves broke open the game in the second quarter. Led by Thompson, Woolridge and Tony Campbell, the Lakers built an 11-point lead in the first six minutes.

Even when Johnson and Green were reunited with the rest of the starters, the Lakers maintained a comfortable lead and pushed it to 55-43 with 3:13 left, after Campbell completed a fastbreak with a layup. But then came a late lull that enabled the Trail Blazers almost to erase the Lakers’ lead. Portland sprinted to a 13-5 run in the final 2:47 as Drexler scored seven of his 24 first-half points during that span.

A four-point halftime lead evaporated four minutes into the third quarter. But the Trail Blazers, despite Drexler’s exploits, could never build more than a two-point lead. By the end of the third quarter, the Lakers had an 89-83 lead and did not allow Portland to slash the lead below three points thereafter.

It was fitting, in a way, that the Lakers clinched their eighth division title in the 1980s on the road, where they have had all sorts of problems this season. They finished the regular season with 21-19 road record, their worst mark away from the Forum in the decade.

Depending on what happens this weekend, the Lakers could find themselves back in Portland next week. The Trail Blazers (38-43) are only one game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks (37-44) for the final Western Conference playoff spot.

Portland must beat Sacramento or Dallas must lose to Denver Sunday to ensure a playoff spot for the Trail Blazers. If the teams were to finish in a tie, the Mavericks would advance via tiebreaking procedures.

Laker Notes

On Friday, the Lakers announced the schedule for the first two games of their first-round Western Conference playoff series at the Forum. Game 1 will be Thursday night at 7:30 and Game 2 Sunday afternoon at 12:30. . . . In Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 24th and final tour stop before Sunday’s sendoff at the Forum, the Trail Blazers presented the retiring Laker center with a backgammon set, custom-made with hand-cut and polished glass and inlaid with gold leaf and platinum leaf. It also includes hand-carved ivory dice. Abdul-Jabbar thanked the crowd for its support of basketball. “I remember coming here as a rookie for an exhibition game, when they were trying to test the market,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “I think what has happened here is great. You fans have showed a lot of class whether you were on top or not. I never, ever remember hearing anything negative from you people, even when you lost.”

Laker Coach Pat Riley said that injured resever center Mark McNamara most likely will not be put on the injured list and replaced on the roster for the playoffs. The Lakers have until Sunday to submit a playoff roster.