Lakers Clicking Again in Tuneup for Pistons

No longer hamstrung, and currently holders of the NBA’s best record, the Lakers certainly seem ready, definitely willing and--most important of all--physically able to defend themselves in tonight’s showdown against the league champion Detroit Pistons.

The only problem, of course, is that the Lakers are at their peak about five months too late and will be defending nothing of significance. Tonight’s game at the Forum will be the 14th in a long-running regular season, not a battle to retain the championship.

The Lakers, 11-2 and leading the Pacific Division, know all that. But still, having efficiently dispatched the Sacramento Kings, 109-93, Thursday night, they immediately looked toward tonight’s game.

The Lakers insist it is not a matter of extracting revenge for being swept in the finals or seeing how they would have fared had Byron Scott and Magic Johnson not been felled by hamstring injuries. They said they just get motivated by big games, and this one obviously qualifies.

“They are a different team now and so are we,” Scott said of the Pistons, who are 9-5. “They’ve had a little bit of a tough time coming back. Winning championships will do that to you. We know that.”

If the Lakers are harboring “what if?” thoughts, remembering that Scott was lost for the entire series with a torn left hamstring and that Johnson lost for most of it because of a slightly less severe hamstring injury, they aren’t really saying.

“I try not to think about it because of the anger and frustration it brings up in me,” Scott said. “I try to block it out.”

But Michael Cooper, the Lakers’ veteran guard, would have an easier time blocking Manute Bol’s shot than blocking out thoughts of last season.

“It’s not a revenge thing,” said Cooper, who aggravated his sprained right thumb Thursday but said he will play tonight. “We just want to play them at our best, when we’re healthy and see what happens. I’m excited. I’m looking forward to it.”

Before meeting the Pistons, though, the Lakers wanted to come back from a more recent loss--Tuesday night’s six-point setback in Houston, which broke their nine-game winning streak. The Lakers did it with only a little inconvenience, opening a big third-quarter lead and maintaining it the rest of the way.

As expected, the Lakers dominated the Kings with inside play, something that assuredly will not be as easy against the physically imposing Pistons. The Lakers were the 13th consecutive opponent to out-rebound Sacramento, holding a 47-44 edge.

Laker scoring, by design, also primarily came from their front line. Forward James Worthy had 22 points and nine rebounds. He made nine of 17 shots, including back-to-back three-point shots in the fourth quarter that astonished teammates. Center Mychal Thompson and power forward A.C. Green added 19 and 17 points, respectively. Green had 10 rebounds; Thompson eight.

“It’s going to be a war under the basket (tonight),” said Thompson, referring to the Detroit game. “They are real physical. It’ll be like that 49er-Giant game. It’ll be won in the trenches. They challenge you. You have to respond.”

The Lakers were the challengers inside against the Kings, and received little response. Pervis Ellison, the first selection overall in last June’s draft, made his first start at center and bombed. Ellison made one of nine shots for two points, could not defend either Thompson (eight of 10 from the field) or Vlade Divac (eight points, 10 rebounds) and fouled out with 10:26 left in the fourth quarter.

With such a productive inside game, the Laker backcourt could afford an off night, which is what happened.

Johnson, who played with a minor eye injury after being head-butted by Kenny Smith in the first quarter, scored 14 points and had 15 assists but sank just six of 15 shots.

Scott had 11 points, but made just three of 11 shots.

The Lakers simply did not need a dominating backcourt to handle the Kings (4-9). The Laker defense forced Sacramento into 16 turnovers, and the Kings made just 41% of their shots. Wayman Tisdale had 15 points and six rebounds, Rodney McCray 16 points and 12 rebounds.

“That is where we wanted to go to,” Johnson said. “Inside. We wanted to post them low and it worked.”

What worked against the Kings, of course, will not necessarily work against the Pistons. But the Lakers like their chances of beating Detroit, which has a 4-4 road record.

“We’ll see who’s best early,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said of tonight’s game. “There’ll be some sparks flying.”

Added Cooper: “This is about the healthiest we’ve been, so that’s the good thing.”

Actually, the Lakers are a little banged up.

Johnson butted heads with Smith two minutes into the game, played the rest of the quarter, but then sat out part of the second quarter with an ice bag placed against his mildly swollen right forehead. Johnson returned, but part of his woes might be attributed to the injury.

Cooper had sprained his right thumb more than a week ago, and jammed it while blocking a pass in the fourth quarter. But he vowed not to miss tonight’s game. He said he would “tape it up” and play.

Johnson, too, said something so minor as a puffy eye is not going to keep him out tonight.

“Oh no,” he said, smiling. “I won’t (miss it) unless I die in my sleep between tonight and tomorrow.”

Laker Notes

Most of the Lakers are taking a low-key approach to tonight’s game against the Detroit Pistons. But not guard Byron Scott, who missed all four games of last June’s championship series after tearing his left hamstring on the eve of the first game. “For me, personally, it’ll be a challenge,” Scott said. “I didn’t get to play against them at all. I missed that.” Said Magic Johnson, who also pulled his left hamstring in the third quarter of Game 2 against the Pistons: “I don’t worry about the (playoff) loss. It’s over. They are the champs, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Do the Pistons miss Rick Mahorn, whom the club let go in the expansion draft? Yes, according to Piston guard Vinnie Johnson: “He set the tempo on how hard we’d play physically. If we had trouble getting going, Rick would go out and agitate people, take them out of offensive set. He was so aggressive, guys were scared to go through the middle. It’s not that (opponents) don’t get the fouls on him, but he just fouls them so hard.”

King center Ralph Sampson, on the injured list because of continued soreness in his left knee, missed his third consecutive game. Gregg Lukenbill, the Kings’ owner, told a Sacramento writer he wants to see Sampson try to play with the chronic pain. Sampson, who earns $2 million this season, had asked to go on the injured list to try to recover. “We knew at the time we traded for him what we were getting,” Lukenbill said. “We figured that Ralph at 75% was better than what we already had. It’s OK with us for him to play at that level, but it’s not OK with Ralph. Ralph needs to understand that we bargained for 75%. We don’t expect him to be a superstar. Without him, we’re hurting. If he can put on knee braces and stand there with his arms up, that’s what we want.”

Sacramento Coach Jerry Reynolds on his reasons for starting Pervis Ellison, the first selection in last June’s NBA draft, even though Ellison had played in just three previous games after recovering from surgery to remove bone spurs from his right foot and ankle: “It’s time to get on with it. He needs to be out there playing. That’s why he’s here.” . . . Michael Cooper aggravated a right thumb sprain Thursday night.