NOTES : Kareem Helping Divac

Former Laker center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who sat on the end of the Laker bench during the Bulls’ 97-82 victory over the Lakers in Game 4 Sunday at the Forum, says Chicago’s edge in the individual matchups have enabled it to take a 3-1 lead in the NBA finals.

“The matchups are not working in the Lakers’ favor,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “They’re not getting any scoring from their bench and the guys that they need to score other than Magic (Johnson) and James (Worthy). Vlade (Divac) had a great game today, but no one has been able to contribute.

“Chicago’s defense has done too much to inhibit what the Lakers do.”

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer, Abdul-Jabbar has worked with Divac, who has scored 51 points in the last two games.

“I just gave him some general guidelines,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “I tried to show him some things on film.”

Chicago assistant John Bach, the architect of a defense that has held opponents to less than 100 points in 14 of 16 playoff games, was even surprised at how effective the Bulls’ defense was in limiting the Lakers to 82 points.

“In your fondest hopes you think, ‘could we hold a team at 82 points?’ but it’s almost unattainable in the NBA game,” Bach said. “We may have helped put it together, but it’s a tribute to the team and to Phil Jackson, who calls the defenses.

“Phil has made those decisions and he’s sold the team on it since the first day we were on the floor. The team believes in Phil and they believe in what he’s asking them to do and we’ve seen the results.”

Chicago guard Craig Hodges has a lucky hat, a Muslim Kufi cap, presented to him by a friend.

“After our first loss (of the playoffs) in Philadelphia a fan gave it to me and told me, ‘Craig, if you wear this, I assure you of victory your next game.’ ”

The Bulls won their next game and Hodges has worn the hat after every game.

If Chicago clinches the NBA title Wednesday at the Forum, the Bulls will become the third consecutive team to win the NBA title on the road. Detroit wrapped up the 1989 title at the Forum and the Pistons clinched the 1990 championship at Portland.

It was the Lakers’ fourth consecutive loss in an NBA finals game at the Forum, tying a record for most consecutive home losses in the finals set by the Baltimore/Washington Bullets in 1971 and 1975.

The Lakers lost two consecutive games to the Detroit Pistons in the 1989 finals before dropping two consecutive games to the Bulls.

Laker guard Byron Scott went 115 minutes and 23 seconds between baskets. Scott, who had missed 10 shots in a row, made a jumper with 10:50 remaining in the third quarter.

Although no team has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit to win an NBA finals, four teams have recovered from 3-1 deficits to win an NBA playoff series.

Boston came back to defeat Philadelphia in the 1968 Eastern Conference finals, the Lakers overcame a 3-1 deficit to defeat Phoenix in the 1970 Western Conference semifinals, Washington came back to defeat San Antonio in the 1979 Eastern Conference final and Boston overcame a 3-1 deficit to defeat Philadelphia in the 1981 Eastern Conference final.

Mike Dunleavy, on the play of James Worthy: “Seeing the game and how he was playing, I took him out. The trainer (Gary Vitti) said there’s no way he could go back in. We’ve been going with it each day, trying to nurse him back into health, but it’s getting worse instead of better.”

Times staff writer Scott Howard-Cooper also contributed to this story.