New Role Is Old Hat; Drew Takes Advantage

Larry Drew finally is starting to put down roots in the Laker backcourt.

All of those service stripes down his arm, earned in a career that has taken him from Detroit to Kansas City-Sacramento to the Clippers to Italy to the Lakers appear to be paying off.

Drew quietly accepted his regular-season role as backup to Magic Johnson’s backup, rookie Tony Smith. But when the playoffs began, Drew moved ahead of Smith on the depth chart. Drew played total of 24 minutes in the first two games of the first-round series against the Houston Rockets. He makes Coach Mike Dunleavy look smart.

“I accepted it early that I wasn’t going to play,” Drew said after the Lakers’ 109-98 victory over the Rockets and his former Clipper coach, Don Chaney, Saturday at the Forum.

“I guess when you take that approach, nothing surprises you.”

Not even becoming the first guard off the bench, thanks to his own elevation and Terry Teagle’s one-game suspension?

“So I’m surprised a little. I’m so used to not playing. I didn’t play for three or four months of the regular season, and all of the sudden I’m called on. I’m definitely surprised.”

And he is taking advantage of the opportunity. Drew, who averaged 10.3 minutes while playing in slightly more than half of the games during the regular season, played 12 for the second consecutive time. He had only two baskets on two attempts, but both were three-pointers.

The first helped douse a 10-5 rally by Houston that pulled the Rockets within 28-26. The second was one of the Lakers’ five three-point baskets in the second quarter, capping a 13-4 run.

Drew was done for the day at halftime, starters Magic Johnson and Byron Scott playing the entire second half. Drew’s imprint, however, lasted much longer.

“When he came in, he hit the big threes,” said Chaney, a Piston assistant when Detroit made Drew its first-round draft choice in 1980.

“Look what we had off our bench. Hardly anything. We had five points. He had more than that himself.”

Drew earned his current spot as Johnson’s replacement--with side duty as off guard thrown in for the last two games in Teagle’s absence--with his showing at the end of the regular season. Dunleavy used that as a time to rest his regulars and test the bench. Drew passed, and passed Smith.

“Our playoff spot was clinched,” Drew said. “(Dunleavy) wanted to rest Magic more, rest Byron more. After what had happened all season, I figured I would be back on the bench. Again, it was just something I had already accepted.”

Said Dunleavy: “It was like a championship fight. If you’re the champion, the contender has to put you away. Tony had the job, but when Larry came back and evened it up, I had to give it to Larry.”

Drew hasn’t given it back yet. Two games in, the new backup isn’t giving any indication of having trouble accepting his role.