Now Lakers Need to Three-Peat : Game 4: Magic scores playoff-best 43 points, but his teammates falter as balanced Sun attack prevails, 114-101. Lakers must win Tuesday at the Forum.

All of Magic Johnson’s hook shots, all of his twisting drives and set shots, every single one of his 43 points could not prevent the Lakers from another loss to the Phoenix Suns Sunday in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals.

The Lakers, during their championship run, had always said they were more than merely a one-man team. But their 114-101 loss to the Suns, which puts them one loss from elimination, failed to justify that boast as never before.

Johnson was superb Sunday in his highest scoring playoff game ever, eclipsing his 42-point performance in Game 6 of the 1980 NBA finals against Philadelphia. He made 15 of 26 shots, all 12 free throws and took only a three-minute rest in the first half.

But Johnson was all the Lakers had against a balanced Sun attack and, as a result, the Lakers trail, three games to one, going into Game 5 Tuesday at the Forum. Only four teams have ever recovered from such a deficit, one being the 1970 Lakers, who won three in a row from the Suns.

Unless his teammates give Johnson some offensive help, the Lakers will be as helpless as they were in losing Game 3 by 14 points and Game 4 by 13.

“You never want to go out and try to score, like, 43 points, but in this situation, I had to,” Johnson said. “My role is usually 20 points and 16 assists. But the other guys got to come on now. Hopefully, we’ll get some other people playing better, so I won’t have to do so much work.”

James Worthy, who had been the most consistent Laker in the playoff fortnight, had his first bad game. He made five of 21 shots for 16 points, while main adversary Tom Chambers responded with 27 points.

But perhaps hurting the Lakers most is the disappearance of guard Byron Scott from the offense. Scott, perhaps preoccupied with trying to control Sun point guard Kevin Johnson, made two of eight shots for four points. He had eight points in Game 3, and has made only 46% of his shots for the series. Scott is not the only under-productive Laker. The center tandem of Mychal Thompson and Vlade Divac, which combined for five points in Game 3, combined for seven Sunday. So ineffective were the Laker big men that Coach Pat Riley started the second half without a center.

Aside from Johnson, the Lakers made 20 of 60 field goal attempts.

“We got to have more people involved,” Magic said. “More than just me and James. For three games, you are trying to ride everybody and get them involved and trying to get your own game going. Today, I just had to do something. I don’t know which role I’m going to have to do Tuesday. Hopefully, it’ll be different.”

Whereas the Lakers’ offense relied on increasingly predictable isolation plays to Johnson, the Suns’ offense was like the Lakers’ used to be. They ran often and well, moved the ball briskly in their half-court offense and got nearly every player involved. No player was more effective than Kevin Johnson, who had 17 of his 30 points in the second half and was able penetrate and pass to open teammates. Chambers, who made 10 of 21 shots, was the recipient of many of Johnson’s 16 assists.

Guard Jeff Hornacek, who had a career playoff-high 29 points in Game 3, scored 16 of his 23 in the first quarter, when the Suns rolled to a 36-22 lead. Hornacek made his first six shots in the first quarter, then missed his final seven shots.

When Hornacek turned cold, the Suns turned to alternative sources. Center Mark West, lightly regarded by the Lakers before this series, dominated once again. West had 15 points and 15 rebounds, blocked six shots and altered the flight of many other Laker attempts. “We had to take the ball to the basket,” Sun Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said. “If you don’t take it to the basket, then you’re not going to win.”

Unfortunately for Los Angeles, Johnson was the only Laker who could forge past West and find room to shoot. Worthy’s inside game was stifled, and forward A.C. Green’s 14 points and 18 rebounds could not make much of a difference.

“A lot of it has to do with our execution,” Worthy said. “And the shots we are getting aren’t falling. We have to look more for our second and third options, and they’ve got to hit (the shots).”

Scott is not scoring, and Johnson says he does not know why. Riley suggested that having to defend Kevin Johnson has been too much for Scott. Magic doesn’t think so. “There’s no excuse,” Magic said. “He just has to start shooting the ball well. What else do you want me to say? We all saw the game. It’s just not dropping for him. It may be because of that (guarding Kevin Johnson), but I hope it’s not that. He’s got to guard him again Tuesday.”

Said Scott of his poor shooting: “I have no idea, I don’t know why. I’m just exerting a lot of energy on defense on Kevin Johnson. I don’t know if I’m taking myself out of the offense. I don’t think all the burden of the loss should be on me. I don’t think it’s just one guy not scoring. We just have to have a better collective group of guys playing harder.”

Lack of effort, even when the Suns took a 36-22 first-quarter lead, was not the Lakers’ problem. The Suns made 13 of 17 shots and, although they cooled in the second quarter, their lead dipped below 10 only briefly before they opened a 60-48 lead in the second half. The Lakers’ dependency on Magic Johnson to the exclusion of others was most apparent with six minutes to play in the second quarter. To that point, Johnson had scored 11 consecutive Laker points. He had made nine of 12 shots. The rest of the Lakers had made five of 20.

When Riley went to a small lineup at the start of the second half, Thompson was replaced by Michael Cooper, essentially making Green the center.

The smaller lineup created a few mismatches for the Suns, but Fitzsimmons stayed with West as the last line of defense inside. With Johnson accounting for 14 of their 31 third-quarter points, the Lakers pulled to 84-79 entering the fourth quarter.

But the closest the Lakers could get was 94-90 with 4:39 left. From that point, the Suns outscored the Lakers, 20-11.

After the Lakers pulled to within four, Kevin Johnson converted a three-point play after making a driving basket. The Lakers’ last real chance was thwarted when Scott missed an open jumper from the right wing, and Chambers scored off the miss for a 99-90 lead. Then, Magic Johnson and Worthy failed to connect on a pass and Majerle made a fast-break layup for an 11-point lead.

“Kevin and Tom really hit some big baskets for us when the Lakers cut it to four or five,” Hornacek said. “I think these last two games really gave us a glimpse of what we’re capable of doing.”

All it has done for the Lakers is expose the inadequacies that a 63-victory regular-season must have masked.

Laker Notes

Laker rookie Vlade Divac had played well in the Houston series and in the first two games against Phoenix, but has failed to make much of an impact in the last two games. Divac had three points and four rebounds while playing 17 minutes in Game 3 and two points and three rebounds in seven minutes of Game 4. “He hasn’t been playing well these last two games,” Magic Johnson said. “We’ve been trying to get him involved.” Mychal Thompson played only six minutes in the second half of Game 4. Said Coach Pat Riley of his strategy: “It’s been sporadic play from our big guys. I couldn’t wait. We were down. We had to go with our quick lineup. They got us back in the game with a chance to win.”

The Lakers weren’t conceding the series. “The pressure is on us to win, it’s cut and dried,” Johnson said. “Either we come out and do it, or they’ll bury us. You never really think you might be here, but it’s reality. You’ve got to deal with it.” Added Michael Cooper: “I think beads of sweat are starting to fall down my forehead. . . . I know we can come back. I still have a lot of confidence in what this team can do.”

In addition to reaching his playoff high for points, Johnson had his playoff career high for field goals (15) and field goals attempts (26). . . . The Lakers returned to Los Angeles about an hour after Sunday’s game and will practice at the Forum this morning.