Lakers Coast By Injury-Ridden Celtics in Exhibition

James Worthy scored 21 points, Byron Scott 20 and Magic Johnson 18 as the Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics, 118-104, Friday night in an exhibition opener.

Boston’s Larry Bird, who underwent lower back surgery last June 7, played 33 minutes, scoring 11 points, but the Celtics were without injured Kevin McHale, Brian Shaw and John Bagley and unsigned veteran Kevin Gamble.

With Johnson and Worthy scoring eight points each, the Lakers took a 37-33 first-quarter lead and built the advantage to 69-58 at halftime.

They widened the margin to as many as 18 in the third quarter before a 10-0 run pulled the Celtics to within 88-80 starting the fourth quarter.

With both teams emptying the benches to get a look at new players, the Celtics were unable to get any closer before the Lakers gradually padded their lead again.

Sam Perkins added 17 points, Elden Campbell 14 and Tony Smith 12 for the Lakers. In 29 minutes, Johnson made five of 16 shots, but had 12 assists.

Reggie Lewis led Boston with 19 points, one more than Dee Brown, who also had 13 assists. Robert Parish added 14 points and rookie Rick Fox 10 for the Celtics.