Bullets Produce Their Own Magic to Beat Lakers

As long as Magic Johnson has the ball and time remains, the Lakers have a chance to win a close game. The Washington Bullets, from experience, know that.

“No doubt about that,” Bullet guard Darrell Walker said. “I’d rather have anyone on that team take that last shot than Magic. I mean, come on, the guy can beat you a lot of ways. You want to take the ball out of his hands.”

Twice in the last 22 seconds Saturday night at the Capital Centre, the Lakers had the ball and a chance open an eight-game trip with a victory. Both times, however, the Bullets forced Johnson to give up the ball and, it turned out, the Lakers’ chance to win.

The objective met, the Bullets managed to beat the Lakers, 103-101, as Michael Cooper’s two hastily attempted three-point shots in the final six seconds clanged off the rim.

The Bullets remembered the 40-foot, last-second shot Johnson sank last December to turn a potential three-point victory into an overtime loss.

“Yeah, we remembered that,” said Bullet guard Jeff Malone, who scored 26 points. “Magic’s their big-play guy. You don’t want him to have the ball down the stretch. If somebody’s going to beat you, let it be Byron (Scott) or Cooper or (Mychal) Thompson. You don’t want to see Magic do it.”

This time, they did not see those fears realized. It took a defensive overload on Johnson to prevent him from shooting, but the Bullets were willing to take that chance.

After the Bullets took a 102-101 lead with 22 seconds left on Mark Alarie’s layup, the Lakers (14-4) took a timeout to set up a final shot. While Laker Coach Pat Riley was scribbling lines on a play sheet, Bullet Coach Wes Unseld delivered the simple mandate that they should cover Johnson as heavily as a White House briefing.

The Lakers were able to inbound the ball to Johnson, guarded by center Charles Jones. Johnson backed his way to the left wing and appeared to be headed to the lane for a hook shot. This drew the attention of Walker, who left his defensive assignment to help Jones on Johnson. Walker forced Johnson to pick up his dribble and pass to Cooper on the right wing. Walker partially deflected the pass, and Cooper had to retreat to three-point territory to claim the ball.

With six seconds to play and James Worthy tightly covered on the baseline, Cooper had no option but to shoot. His attempt hit the front rim and bounced over the backboard, somewhat to Cooper’s surprise.

“That first one, I thought was (going in),” Cooper said. “But it didn’t. The clock was running, I had to run down the pass, and I had to shoot it. But it was a good shot.”

Good, but not the preferable one. Riley said the Lakers’ plan, seemingly obvious to all 18,756 in attendance, was to give the ball to Johnson, who finished with 21 points and 14 assists, and have Worthy post low as the second option. Worthy, to that point, had scored 26 points, including a finger roll with 42 seconds to play that gave the Lakers a 101-100 lead.

“We put it in Earvin’s hands, but they played great defense,” Riley said. “We wanted to play a two-man game with Buck (Johnson) on the drive and James flaring.”

At the time, it appeared the Lakers had squandered their only chance to win. But two quick fouls on Bullet inbound plays eventually put Ledell Eackles on the free-throw line with 3.3 seconds to play. Eackles missed the second free throw, giving the Lakers the ball at midcourt and two seconds with which to work.

Again not surprisingly, the Lakers inbounded the ball to Johnson. Again, he was swarmed over by Bullets. With no chance to turn and shoot, Johnson quickly passed to Cooper, whose three-point attempt on the run hit the left side of the rim.

Although their final two possessions drew most of the attention, the Lakers’ problems ran deeper Saturday night.

The Bullets’ swarming, switching defense plunged the Lakers’ offense into a prolonged period of stagnancy. In the second half, when the Lakers squandered a six-point lead and trailed by eight early in the fourth quarter, they relied mostly on outside shooting.

Riley said the reason the Lakers attempted only 10 free throws was a lack of movement and aggression on offense. This has not been a one-time thing. In each of the Lakers’ four losses, and even in a few of their victories, their fast break has been all but snuffed out.

“Our overall offense has been ineffective from the standpoint of movement and getting the second and third shots,” Riley said. “Unless we begin to change, after 20 games we’ve got to change something.”

Riley meant change the offense, rather than personnel. But Johnson said all the Lakers need is to remind themselves to look for drives to the basket.

“I’m always looking to drive,” Johnson said. “I think (Riley) means, everybody’s got to do it. What happens is, when you get (the ball) down low and then kick it out, you need to look for the drive, not taking the outside shots. Those are decisions our guys are making, but everybody’s got to take it to the hole.”

The problem Saturday night, especially for Johnson in the final seconds, was that the Bullets simply would not allow it.

“It’s hard to take the ball out of Magic’s hands,” Walker said. “But we managed to do it.”

Laker Notes

In addition to Jeff Malone’s 26 points, the Bullets were led by Bernard King’s 24 points and 11 rebounds. Mark Alarie, starting in place of John Williams (out three months after knee surgery) added 14 points. . . . James Worthy on opening the eight-game trip with a loss: “It’s a tough loss when it comes down to the last shot. Those sting. But we can’t dwell on it.”