Lakers Get a Little Fatter With Victory Over Hornets

Their schedule might be soft now, but it’s better to eat a cream puff than get hit in the face with one, so the Lakers arrived with menace in their step and had dessert.

They led by 14 points after one quarter, by 29 after three and let Coach Mike Dunleavy turn the fourth into a clinic for Laker youth Thursday night in a 113-93 rout of the overmatched Charlotte Hornets.

The Lakers are 3-0 on this trip, averaging 116 points and a victory margin of 15. They have won nine in a row overall and lead Phoenix by 2 1/2 games for second place in the Pacific Division.

The game can be illustrated by two numbers: Magic Johnson had 11 assists in the first quarter; Elden Campbell, who only sees the floor in garbage time, had a career-high 12 points in the fourth.

Red Auerbach had a victory cigar. Dunleavy has Campbell, the 6-foot-10 No. 1 pick, recently described as “very young” by a Laker official. Campbell is a Forum favorite but a rarely used one, which isn’t easy for him.

“I’d rather have quality time--when it counts,” Campbell said. “But I feel good about playing and getting the opportunity to show them I can play.

“It takes a lot of getting used to. I think it’s good I’m not used to it.

“Being a rookie is just part of basketball. You got to start somewhere. (A little laugh.) Unfortunately, I had to start from the last spot--No. 12 on the bench.”

Actually, the last spot belongs to another rookie, a little-known, hard-working forward named Irving Thomas, who played seven minutes Thursday. Magic Johnson left the game for good with 2:02 to play in the third quarter. None of the regulars played more than 31 minutes.

Their opponent was in a slump (4-20), injured (Rex Chapman was out) and ill (Johnny Newman played with a virus and didn’t score or take a rebound). The Lakers fell upon them with gusto and artistry--”classic Laker basketball,” Johnson called it--as in the following sequences:

Ahead 19-14, James Worthy in the low post faked Newman high into the air, spun around him and laid the ball in; Kendall Gill’s missed 20-footer turned into a fast break on which Johnson threw a no-look pass over his shoulder to the trailing Worthy for a layup; Worthy stole the ball and he and Johnson exchanged passes on the way upcourt without dribbling before Worthy passed to Byron Scott for a dunk.

All that took 41 seconds, after which the Lakers led, 25-14.

Then there was the start of the third quarter when they blanked Charlotte while making five consecutive shots--four of them three-pointers, two by Johnson. “That was a great effort, especially on defense,” Dunleavy said. “We’ve been able on a regular basis to come out and shut people down, which enables us to get our running game going. Going into the fourth quarter, we have 30-point leads, which gives our young guys a chance to play and grow.”

See? Coaching’s not so hard, though someone asked what it was like when they were 1-4.

“I was scared to death,” Dunleavy said. “I was rationalizing a lot. We had just been together a short while. The teams that beat us were San Antonio, Portland, Phoenix. . . .”

Now the Lakers are doing the scaring again. Ask them. It’s fun.

Laker Notes

Hornet guard Muggsy Bogues: “They’re a great team that can make you look bad. They don’t let you get away with anything. . . . I went out and did what I could to disrupt their offense. We still have our heads high.”

Laker teammates still lobby for Elden Campbell. “I think he can help us,” James Worthy said. “What he did tonight is kinda hard to stop.” . . . Worthy, a native of nearby Gastonia, had the team over to his parents’ home for dinner Wednesday. Thursday he hit 11 of 14 shots and scored 24 points.