He Can Take It : Lakers’ Scott, Feeling Sharp Again, Is Ready for Jordan

Is Byron Scott happy to get back to the NBA finals?

You can believe that.

They can knock him down, step on his face, slander his name all over the place. They can make him guard Superman for two weeks and he doesn’t care.

For Magic Johnson, James Worthy, A.C. Green and Mychal Thompson, it has been two years since their last finals appearance.

For Scott, sidelined on the eve of the ’89 Detroit series, it has been three.

The day before that series began, Scott collided in the air with rookie David Rivers during practice, landed awkwardly and pulled a hamstring.

Does he have some feelings about it?

“It was silly, to be honest with you,” Scott said. “It was something we shouldn’t have been doing. It was crazy.

“Rebound drill, the day before the game. By the time you get to the finals, if you don’t know how to box out and rebound, you’re going to lose, anyway.

“It was a physical-type practice. I could deal with the running and other stuff but that part of practice, we shouldn’t have been doing.

“A lot of guys felt that way when we started. To end up having that happen confirmed everybody’s feelings.”

The man in charge, of course, was Pat Riley, new coach of the New York Knicks.

A lot more things have changed since then. Scott’s hamstring bothered him through two seasons. The last one ended with Kevin Johnson beating him badly in Phoenix. He was almost traded over the summer.

He rebounded with a solid season under Mike Dunleavy and a phenomenal postseason.

Fresh from shooting 60% against the Trail Blazers, 53% on three-pointers, Scott meets Michael Jordan, perhaps on the theory that fate never gives a man more than he can handle.

For all the talk of the Michael-Magic series, it’s Scott who will experience the agony of defending Jordan for the next two weeks.

Without conceding anything--”I play him the same way I play Isiah Thomas or Kevin Johnson”--you could say Scott knows what he’s up against.

Let’s take Jordan’s attributes one by one.

Intelligence--”The thing that impresses me most about him is his awareness,” Scott says.

“He knows where everybody is on the court. He doesn’t really force a lot of things. He lets the game come to him and gets his guys going. Then somewhere down the line he takes over.”

Physical talent--”He’s received unbelievable gifts from the Lord. He’s been blessed. There’s no doubt about it.”

Jumping ability--”Where would I rate him from one to 10? Ten. He has the ability to do three or four things as a jumper. You have guys who can flat-out jump, but they have to gather themselves. He doesn’t have to. He’s quick. He explodes when he jumps and he’s very strong. He can get hit in the air and still dunk it. He has everything a jumper can want. He doesn’t have just one thing, like jumping extremely high like an Elden Campbell, or gliding and hanging like Clyde (Drexler). He has the whole package.”

Ballhandling--”Well, I don’t see anybody stealing it from him, so he has to be a pretty good ballhandler. The fact his hands are probably bigger than James Worthy’s has a lot to do with it.”

Off the ball--”I’ve learned you don’t deny him. He’s good at moving without the ball, also. He’ll backdoor you. He gets a lot of easy layups and dunks that way. If he comes off a pick, I’ll just let him catch it and hope I’ve got some help coming. That’s it. I just don’t want him getting backdoor layups and dunks.”

Weaknesses--”If I was asked if he has a weakness, I would say, ‘Force him left.’ If he goes right, you’re in big trouble and I’ve seen him go left and put you in trouble, also. Two, three years ago, I would have said outside shooting, but he’s improved that tremendously. Offensively, to me, he has no weaknesses.”

Jordan is also a five-time all-defensive first-teamer and was once defensive player of the year. The search for a flaw continues.

It might sound like a full day’s work but Scott likes the position he’s in, compared to some others.

“It feels good to this point,” he says, levelly, “to know that I’m on top of it, to know I’m knocking down shots. Especially compared to last year.

“But I’ve been here eight years. That’s not going to make me jump up and down for joy. The fact that I’m doing better than last year, that people are saying, ‘He’s back to himself once again,’ that’s nice. But we’ve got a lot more to do.”

He said he planned to be extra careful at practice today.

Laker Notes

The Lakers planned to arrive in early afternoon, but moved their schedule back two hours and wound up reaching their hotel at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Meanwhile Chicago TV crews did remotes from an empty hotel ballroom and issued bulletins such as: “The Lakers are getting a look at our Chicago traffic.” . . . James Worthy says he plans to go lightly on his sprained left ankle until Sunday’s Game 1. “Mostly (Thursday) night, it was mental,” Worthy said. “I really couldn’t get over the mental barrier. Plus Buck Williams rolled it over early in the game and the pain kind of surged.”