Magic’s Fall Gives Lakers Biggest Scare : Pro basketball: Johnson suffers concussion in third quarter against Bulls, then Smith sparks 15th victory in a row, 99-86.

Seventeen thousand five hundred five pairs of eyes stared longingly at the Forum’s southwest runway Sunday, hoping to see the Mounties gallop out in the nick of time again to untie Little Nell from the railroad track.

Only this time, Magic Johnson didn’t show.

He had been knocked down and out, into Centinela Hospital Medical Center with a slight concussion and a touch of amnesia. So Little Nell, otherwise known as the Lakers, arose by herself, held the Bulls to a 12-point fourth quarter and beat them, 99-86, matching the franchise’s second-longest winning streak, 15 games.

Did they just make some more believers out there or what?

Rookie point guard Tony Smith, playing in his 27th game, as cool as he was anonymous, won his spurs Sunday, running the team efficiently, making three of four shots in the fourth quarter and prompting NBC to name him its player of the game. Beforehand, this would have been your basic longshot.

“I think the rookie paid the rent today,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “I think everybody thought we were finished.”

Probably one or two people thought that, yes. Johnson took his fall in the closing moments of the third period, defending against a fast break the Bulls had been running during a 10-0 burst that cut a 12-point Laker lead to 76-74.

Johnson, backpedaling, bumped into Terry Teagle and fell backward. Lying on the floor, he was inadvertently kicked in the back of the head by the Bulls’ Horace Grant, flying in from the right wing, and his head was bounced off the floor.

Johnson laid there for five minutes, of which he might have been unconscious for one.

“It’s tough for me to tell,” trainer Gary Vitti said. “It seems like a lifetime when you’re out there. It was probably under a minute.”

Dr. Stephen Lombardo says Johnson was lucid but with some gaps in his memory. “He realized he was here,” Lombardo said, “but he wasn’t clear on the score or what happened.”

The Forum crowd stood and watched quietly. Johnson rose with help, to a standing ovation, and was taken to the hospital for observation. Lombardo didn’t think it was serious but will run tests to be sure.

The Lakers, alone in the arena, knew Johnson wouldn’t return but counted their blessings.

“Any time you see a guy go down like that and not respond, personally I forget about the game at that point,” James Worthy said. “Once I saw him get up, there was a big relief.”

Meanwhile, back on the railroad tracks. . . .

Smith entered the game. Neither team scored in the last 19 seconds of the third quarter.

The Bulls didn’t get a field goal (Michael Jordan’s fadeaway 13-footer) in the fourth quarter until it was 3:17 old.

They didn’t get their next one (Jordan’s 17-footer) for another 1:34.

They got another (Grant’s 15-footer) 30 seconds later . . . and two more in the last 6:39. That was five altogether, in 20 shots taken by a team owning the game’s most devastating scoring machine. Defense, doesn’t get any better than that.

“Like I told them in the huddle,” Dunleavy said, “if we can defend and we can rebound, we’ll be in it at the end and then we’ll let the game take care of itself.”

The Bulls cut it to 89-86 with 4:30 left. But with 4:03 left, Smith drove across the floor on John Paxson, got into the lane and made a nine-footer. At the other end, Grant missed an open 15-footer. Back in possession, the Lakers were about to have the 24-second clock go off on them when Grant was called for holding Sam Perkins in the low post. Perkins made two free throws for a 93-86 lead.

Since the Lakers were in the process of blanking the Bulls completely over the last 4:30, you had to like their chances.

No. 15 was secured. The Lakers can make it 16 Tuesday night in the Forum against the Clippers.

All in all, things seemed to have turned out OK for the Lakers, who sighed and departed.

“When he went down,” Dunleavy said, “I didn’t know if it was his knee, I didn’t know if it was his back.

“I was a little relieved to hear it was just his head.”

Laker Notes

The Lakers reported that Magic Johnson was alert when he left the Forum and under his own power. He was to stay at the hospital overnight and undergo tests today. . . . Said Tony Smith: “When Magic goes down, you don’t have to do the same things he does. What you do have to do is run some semblance of an offense. I wasn’t scared. I was happy to be in there and show people I can play.” . . . James Worthy on Smith: “It’s tough for a young player to play behind a player like Earvin. That’s a lot of pressure.”

Where were Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen late in the game? Jordan, accustomed to taking over in the fourth quarters, was held to four points in the last 12 minutes, 23 overall, eight under his average. He put it down to good team defense, spearheaded by Byron Scott. “They certainly had help,” Jordan said. “They kept me from going to the basket and made me pass the ball.” . . . Pippen, nine for 15 with 18 points at halftime, took five shots in the second half and was upset about it. “The ball didn’t come my way,” Pippen said. “I don’t think my teammates realized I was out there.”

Will Perdue, starting in place of the injured Bill Cartwright, went two for 11. Reserves Stacey King, B.J. Armstrong, Dennis Hopson, Cliff Levingston and Scott Williams went one for 14. The Laker bench outscored the Bull subs, 36-4. . . . Horace Grant didn’t think he kicked Johnson very hard. “I saw him going down,” Grant said. “I was trying to jump over him. I guess the top of my shoe hit his head. I didn’t think that was what did it.”

* BERNARD KING: The Bullets’ All-Star is released from hospital after having shortness of breath during game. C12.