They Hold On to Win by a Hare : Pro basketball: No tortoises, the 76ers nearly overcome another Laker fast start/slow finish before L.A. wins, 122-116.

Their habitual second-half lulls had become quite irksome as a topic of conversation among the Lakers. But they still seem incapable of preventing them, perhaps because they usually win anyway.

It happened again Friday night against the Philadelphia 76ers but, this time, the Lakers were in no mood to dwell on the negative. They just seemed so happy--no, relieved--to finally put away the 76ers, 122-116, before 17,505 at the Forum.

Leading by 23 points and shooting nearly 70% early in the third quarter, the Lakers entered another prolonged slump, from which they barely emerged in time.

That, too, is another Laker habit, which might be why they are not overly concerned.

“It happens,” Magic Johnson said. “Right now, I’m not going to worry about it. If it continues on, I’ll worry. We’ve just got to kick it up a gear.”

Indeed, another victory was all that really mattered to the Lakers, who improved their NBA-best record to 40-12. The Laker victory, combined with Portland’s loss to the Chicago Bulls, increased the Lakers’ Pacific Division lead to 3 1/2 games over the Trail Blazers.

The Lakers’ level of concern equaled the quality of competition. They were angry Wednesday night, when they blew most of a 14-point lead at Denver and won by two points. Friday, however, they lost an even more significant lead to the 34-20 76ers, one of the NBA’s hottest teams.

While it may seem like quibbling, one Laker--center Mychal Thompson--said he is concerned about the day when the Lakers lose a big lead and do not recover.

“It’s getting ridiculous now, the way we blow double-digit leads,” said Thompson, who suffered a sprained ankle during the fourth quarter but continued playing. “We’re getting complacent out there. There’s no excuse for a veteran team like this to let that happen time and again.

“If we don’t stop it soon, it’s going to come up and kick us in the butt. When you run the 100-meter sprint, you don’t want to cross the finish line walking with your back to it.”

The 76ers cut the Laker lead to four points with 5:10 to play and pulled to four again with five seconds to play.

But Coach Pat Riley, who has publicly fretted about the Lakers’ habit of blowing leads, was satisfied by his team’s effort. He said it was nearly impossible for the Lakers to maintain their torrid first-half pace. Thus, he felt Philadelphia’s second-half resurgence, led by Charles Barkley and Derek Smith, was inevitable.

“It was a great win,” Riley said. “I never felt like we’d lose the game. When it got to four points, it gave us something to think about. But I don’t think there has been a big lead this year when we haven’t lost part of it. That happens.

“The only way we were going to lose was if we quit, and I knew that wasn’t going to happen.”

The Laker transformation from world beater to Team Vulnerable did not begin immediately. They played about as well as they are capable in the first half, making 69.7% of their shots to take a 67-51 lead. Their fast break was in full throttle, and Byron Scott scored 21 points--most from the outside.

But after seven consecutive points in the first 1:11 of the third quarter gave the Lakers a 23-point lead, they watched it slowly dissolve.

Barkley scored 20 of his game-high 32 points in the second half. But the prime mover for the 76ers was Smith, who had 15 points and resembled the shooting guard he was before suffering a knee injury with the Clippers, circa 1984-85.

At one point early in the fourth quarter, Smith scored seven consecutive points--enabling the 76ers to pull to seven points with 8:17 to play. The 76ers pulled to 109-105 when Ron Anderson made a jump shot with 5:10 to play.

That is when Johnson emerged. He made two free throws with 5:00 minutes left, then sank a three-point shot with 4:19 left to make the Laker lead 114-105.

But the 76ers would not yield, and Johnson needed to strike again. He made a three-point play with 1:37 left, then another drive with 1:17 left for a 120-112 lead.

Philadelphia made another run, but the Lakers had pulled through again.

The Lakers had a right to be happy with the victory, regardless of what transpired in the second half. They made 58% of their shots. A.C. Green scored 24 points and had eight rebounds. Scott finished with 24 points, all but two in the first half. And, Johnson had 22 points and 17 assists.

It was a combination of Laker fatigue and a change of 76er strategy that contributed to the second-half turnaround. The half-court trap the 76ers threw at the Lakers failed in the first half, because the Lakers were able to make their outside shots.

In the second half, Coach Jim Lynam basically abandoned the trap and went to a more conventional double-team on the ball. And the 76ers became the offensive aggressors.

“Usually, teams that are down a whole bunch of points tend to give up,” Lynam said. “But we came out in the second half and made it a ballgame.”

That is the Lakers’ point. Most of the players felt it unfair to lump Friday’s blown lead into the same category as Wednesday’s blown lead against Denver or last-week’s blown lead at Sacramento.

“Give them credit,” Johnson said. “They are a good team. They can capitalize on any situation. We played a good game to beat them. We just had that stretch where we hit nothing. We were just missing shots. It was different than Denver. We made turnovers (in Denver), and then you’re upset. Tonight, we just didn’t hit the shots.”

Said Riley: “It wasn’t so much a letdown on our part this time. They were hitting the threes. Derek Smith went off on us. Ron Anderson went off, and Charles kept banging away. It just happens. It’s hard to maintain that type of lead against that type of team.”

Laker Notes

Michael Cooper, in his first game back after hitting his head on a metal stair while diving for the ball in San Antonio on Tuesday night, played eight minutes in the first half before sitting out the rest of the game because of a sore neck related to his fall. . . . The Lakers have 10 consecutive victories against the 76ers.

James Worthy said his severely bruised right shoulder makes playing painful. “As long as it doesn’t get hit during the game, it’s OK,” Worthy said. “But it gets hit every time I go through the lane.” During timeouts, Worthy applies a heating pack on his shoulder. “Mostly, to keep (the shoulder) loose. I don’t want it to get stiff.”

Vlade Divac’s English has improved enough so that he now can sing the national anthem. “I’ve known the words for two or three weeks,” he said. Divac paused, then added: “I know last word--freeeee.” Divac says he wants to teach teammates Mark McNamara the Yugoslav anthem. McNamara has been learning Serbo-Croatian, Divac’s native tongue, this season and now can converse with Divac in two languages.

The starting time of the Lakers’ game at Denver on April 8 has been changed from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the Nuggets’ request. . . . The Lakers are off today and will play the Utah Jazz on Sunday night at the Forum.