NBA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : The Final Days : Abdul-Jabbar Giving It His Best Shot as Illustrious Career Comes to a Close

Is this goodby?

They’ve already bade farewell to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 28 cities, including this one, bestowing upon him everything from A (a Tiffany’s sterling silver apple, from the New York Knicks) to V (VCR, New Jersey Nets), not to mention that big R (Rolls-Royce, his Laker teammates), but those were just rehearsals, and happy moments, besides.

Tonight, with somewhat less ceremony and a good deal less joy, the Detroit Pistons can ring down the real thing.

Like, it’s 0-4, and the rest of your life starts now.

“That’s not a good way for the king to go out,” Mychal Thompson said. “That’s almost the way Nixon went out, and Napoleon. That’s unfair. Great men like Kareem are supposed to go out on top.”

Monday’s practice, your basic blues-for-the-morning-after workout, might already have been his last. He probably has been to 3,000 of those, and will retire still looking for the first one he enjoyed.

“A necessary evil,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “That’s the only way I can look at it.

“We have to review, we have to keep sharp. The whole way they play this game, they really wear you out with the road (schedule) and you’re always tired. And that makes practice a difficult thing to get into. So you’re constantly fighting your nature to slack off.”

And when you’re down 3-0, isn’t it even harder to drag yourself in?

“Well, it’s hard,” he said. “You want to have something positive to focus on, and being down 3-0, there’s very little to focus on, other than desperation.”

Since the series is still formally on, Abdul-Jabbar tolerated the inevitable questions politely but without enthusiasm. In other words, it was like most of his interviews in the last 10 years, when he began sitting still for interviews in the first place

The real shame? It’s not so much that his career is ending, since everything has to.

The real shame is that Abdul-Jabbar found the public role that was his destiny so difficult.

“Like everybody else, I thought he was aloof and a real sour person to be around,” Thompson said. “He seemed to be that way because he’s so quiet and private in public.

“But he’s got as good a sense of humor as Robin Williams and he’s got the most boisterous laugh I’ve ever heard. He just enjoys life and you don’t get to see that in public. He looks real quiet and shy but he’s really a jokester and a personable person to be around.”

One more loss and the personable Kareem won’t be around anymore. What chance does he have of going out with the kind of kick--24 points, 13 rebounds--he flourished Sunday?

“Well, whatever I have to give, I will bring and give it,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “This is no time to leave anything at home, so to speak.”

Said Piston Coach Chuck Daly: “God, I hope not. I want to see no more of a vintage Kareem.”

Was Daly surprised? Protocol says you answer no, but Daly said yes.

“Yeah, I was a little surprised he had that much left,” Daly said. “But that’s the pride of the guy. Major league.”

Abdul-Jabbar’s last hurrah wasn’t all laughs and gifts, either. There was a whisper or two, too.

There was speculation after last season that the Lakers offered to buy out Abdul-Jabbar’s contract. He says that no one ever approached him and that it was writers’ gossip.

There was more such speculation at midseason, when he was playing with less inspiration than usual, before Pat Riley announced the two-week “evaluation period” and Abdul-Jabbar responded promptly.

“I never believed that (he was through) and the team never believed that,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

“I stayed the last two years to help the team. They thought I could be a factor in us winning, and we won it last year and we got darned close this year. So, I think they were right and the skeptics were wrong.”

So we’re left awaiting his departure and weighing his legacy.

Abdul-Jabbar, too.

“Yeah, I think I belong in that category (the top players),” he said. “I’m not going to say that I’m the best. I’ll let the fans argue about that. But I can say, without a hesitation, I’ve had a great career, and I’m proud of it.”

If the Pistons keep guarding him with one man, as they have been, he might just send everyone home with something else to remember. That’s the marathon element of his legacy: After 20 seasons--four more than anyone else ever lasted--there are still only a few centers who can handle him one on one.

And if Abdul-Jabbar pulls up short of Sunday’s performance, he won’t have to drive home to Bel-Air and rummage around for what he forgot to bring. He lasted long enough to say, without a hesitation, “I gave at the office.”

So how will it end?

“Things won’t change a bit,” Thompson said. “Kareem will be the first one in the shower, the first one to leave. Before anybody realizes he’s gone.”

Not this time.

This time they’ll realize it, all right.