NBA PLAYOFFS : Lakers May Fall the Hardaway : Game 3: They concede there is not much defense for Warrior guard and other sharpshooters if bombs keep dropping.

The book says the Warriors can’t keep this stuff up.

If they put the Game 2 videotape in a time capsule, will anyone in 100 years believe that Chris Mullin shot 76% while hitting four three-pointers, nine 20-footers, a 17-footer, a 15-footer and one layup?

How about the entire team shooting nearly 54%, while making 30 of 46 baskets outside 15 feet?

The book says those shots can’t keep falling, but to paraphrase Sherif Ali in “Lawrence of Arabia,” for some teams nothing is written. The Warriors have shot better than 50% in four games in a row, employing a similar selection of launches, and are clearly trying to write their own book.

In either case, the Lakers need the law of averages to assert itself tonight in Game 3 or they’re in trouble.

It’s no mystery to them, either.

Said Magic Johnson: “If they keep hitting this way, we’ll probably be at home, watching.”

Since pendulums swing both ways, the Warriors’ Don Nelson, a master at seizing the low ground, was trying to bring his team back to earth after Wednesday night’s 125-124 victory at the Forum.

Said Nelson on Thursday: “Just because we got a one-point win, ‘stole a game’ as everybody says, when we were down four (points) with 40-odd seconds to go . . . We probably surprised them, I’m sure. We probably surprised ourselves, as well, and our fans.

“I think Magic said it best. If we continue to shoot the ball this way, we might well be headed into the next round. We don’t expect this to go on. We’re aware the Lakers are a fine defensive team. We can’t continue to shoot 50%.”

Laker Coach Mike Dunleavy, once Nelson’s protege, said Nelly could keep the high ground and like it.

“I consider us the underdog,” Dunleavy said. “We’re here. They took care of business down in L.A. They’re in the driver’s seat. Our backs are against the wall.”

Aside from the entertainment value, this jockeying is significant since the coaches are probably giving these messages to their players.

In addition, Dunleavy, having lost last, has to figure out something more tangible than hoping the Warriors miss.

“We’ve got to make one big adjustment,” Dunleavy said. “We’ve got to affect their shooting. We can’t let them shoot 54% every game. We have to play better individual defense and make them miss some shots.”

The Lakers have one thorny problem: Tim Hardaway.

They have no good match for the little--listed at 6 feet, he’s probably 5-11--Warrior point guard who is quick, strong enough to push past defenders, and has a paralyzing crossover dribble that Johnson calls the game’s most lethal.

Hardaway is also a long-range threat, making 38% of his three-point attempts in the regular season, 44% in postseason. Thus he joins the select ranks of the indefensible, recalling Kevin Johnson tearing Byron Scott to bits last spring.

The problem is not just that Hardaway scores--an average of 32.5 points a game in this series--but when he isn’t, he’s penetrating, collapsing the Laker defense and setting up Mullin and Mitch Richmond.

It was because of Hardaway’s drives that Dunleavy played Elden Campbell in Game 2’s fourth quarter, which ended with two costly fouls on the Laker rookie.

Defending the Warriors starts with Hardaway. Watch tonight to see what Dunleavy comes up with.

Then there’s the Laker nightmare: What if the Warriors still don’t cool off?

“They’re a team right now that’s basically in a zone of their own,” Dunleavy said. “I just have to live with this: If I can get them to take shots that are contested and they keep putting the ball in the basket, they deserve to win.”

The Lakers aren’t used to having their fate floating in the breeze, but there it flutters for the moment.

Laker Notes

More jockeying: Don Nelson said Mike Dunleavy and Nelson’s other ex-assistants, such as Mike Schuler, have an advantage when they play him, since they studied under him for so long. . . . Said Dunleavy, laughing: “Anybody who writes that should be fired. He’s pulling the wool over your eyes. He’s the master of misdirection.”

Dunleavy, on the criticism he took for using Elden Campbell Wednesday: “I have no question about it. I know a lot of people have had a question. In my mind, absolutely, I’d do it again. The thing I’d have been kicking myself for today would have been if I’d taken him off the floor and lost the game. He gives us a way of staying big against them and being able to play small. He’s very capable of defending (against) their small players and he gives us a shot-blocking presence.” . . . However, Campbell is inexperienced. Aside from meaningless games in the season’s last week, he hadn’t played an entire fourth quarter before Wednesday.