Worst Enemies Defeated

This is not the way to beat Portland.

Game 5 of the Western Conference playoff series between the golden boys of Los Angeles and the Golden State Warriors did not turn out to be a total disaster Tuesday night, thanks to a fabulous fourth quarter at the Forum that reminded everybody just how good these Lakers can be when they quit fooling around and take care of business.

This overtime success is one that the Lakers can be proud of, because they overcame themselves. Which means they can overcome anybody.

Until the happy ending, there was precious little about the Lakers’ performance to make any of them go home and make entries in their diaries. This was hardly the game of their dreams. This was the game of their bad dreams.

The Lakers were almost unrecognizable. Their evil twins showed up instead. After looking so invincible in a three-game sweep of Houston, at the very same time Portland was struggling to survive a five-game series with Seattle, suddenly it is Los Angeles that nearly lost twice to the Golden State Warriors--and at home, yet.

Holy refrigerator, Chick. Were these guys ice-cold or what? Magic Johnson missing his first nine shots? Byron Scott making two baskets in four quarters? The offense bricking 17 of the first 21 shots? The defense leaving Golden State shooters wide open? Talk about frozen Lakes.

Late in the game, L.A.’s onetime show-timers even had difficulty breaking Golden State’s full-court press. You read that right. The Lakers--Magic Johnson’s Lakers--were rattled by a press. Imagine that. That’s like Jack Nicklaus being bothered by a slight breeze.

Portland is not going to put up with any of this Laker funny business. If the Lakers make mistakes against the Trail Blazers of the kind they have made against the Warriors, the upcoming conference championship series will not be the all-out war we have all been expecting it to be. Portland will not let the Lakers off the hook as easily as Golden State did.

These things go in cycles, so maybe the Lakers will have their act together by the time they get to Oregon. One look at the way the Lakers played in the fourth quarter and overtime Tuesday suggests that Mike Dunleavy’s team is capable of anything this season. . . . beating the Blazers, beating the Bulls, beating whoever stands in their way.

But things sure did look ugly there for a while.

The Warriors were so alone around the basket, they must have been checking their deodorants. No Laker would stand anywhere near them. Dunleavy needed a timeout just to ask his players if they had any intention of guarding anybody from Golden State this fine evening. The whole first quarter looked like one of those Pepsi Hot Shot contests.

And then, on the other end of the court, the Lakers were shooting as though they were blindfolded. Magic went: Miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss. And the Lakers were eight points down at the end of the quarter, and Chick Hearn was telling his TV-radio audience that there was one thing the Lakers could be pleased about: “That they can’t play any worse than that.”

Well, things got better. Terry Teagle reported for duty, as did Elden Campbell. Magic swished a three-pointer. Suddenly, a 32-23 game became 32-all. Eagle-Eye Teagle made the corner shot that tied the score, and young Elden followed momentarily with one of his specialty slams, the Campbell Swoop.

There had been some controversy earlier in this series as to when and where Campbell should be playing for the Lakers. See, he made a big mistake in the fourth quarter of an earlier game that the Lakers lost. Well, the way this rookie plays, maybe Dunleavy should consider playing him more in the first quarter. The kid can play.

Of course, Vlade Divac being sidelined with his face in a towel, suffering from the flu, didn’t help the Laker strategy any. Before the game, Magic Johnson said that when he awakens every morning, he says two prayers: “I thank God for letting me wake up, and then I pray that Vlade Divac is on top of his game.”

Vlade was no factor this time. And Campbell fouled out. And Mychal Thompson continues to be a no-show. But the Lakers do not necessarily need a center when the game is on the line. They just need some forward to step forward. Sam Perkins did, more than once.

Question:

What did these guys ever do before they got Perkins, Teagle and Campbell?

In the final minutes, the Lakers put together a 20-4 run. Perkins sank a hook shot that had no arc whatsoever. He just rammed it into the hoop. Campbell had a big rebound of a Scott shot before fouling out. James Worthy banged home a banker. All of a sudden, they were the Lakers again, the real, honest-to-goodness Lakers, the ones who could beat Portland.

The Lakers, in big trouble, needed a hero.

Suddenly . . . Sam!

When Chris Mullin--coming off his embarrassing triple-single of Game 4--gave Golden State the lead, Perkins tipped one home to tie it. When Tim Hardaway bombed one that apparently gave Golden State the game, Perkins made a beeline to the basket and would not be denied.

And neither would the Lakers. On to Oregon.