Lakers Shake Things Up, Defeat Heat

Among the Lakers, “Win one for the Gipper” has been replaced by “Win one so you’ll still be here when your laundry comes back.”

Threatened with banishment to foreign lands by General Manager Jerry West, they snapped out of their slump Sunday night. James Worthy, who had missed 21 of 29 shots in three games, scored 33 points as the Lakers beat the Miami Heat, 123-111.

Thus ended the worst stretch in recent Laker history and streaks of four home losses and seven games under 100 points.

West was out scouting Sunday, but his words were still hanging in the air.

Late Friday night, after the Pacers’ 114-87 rout of his team, West called the effort “disgraceful,” declared he would consider offers for any of his players and said: “Our veterans didn’t provide any leadership. Maybe some players have been around here too long.”

Sunday, Coach Mike Dunleavy shook things up more, replacing Elden Campbell in the lineup with A.C. Green.

“Since we hadn’t had a lead in two games, I thought I had to start my best lineup,” Dunleavy said.

He also moved Tony Smith up to No. 3 guard, putting him in the pressing tandem with Sedale Threatt that Dunleavy had envisioned in training camp but never got to use during the regular season.

Smith scored 14 points and will keep his promotion for a while.

In general, Dunleavy threw smaller lineups onto the floor and pressed more.

Expect to see more of it.

“What it comes down to, when you lose six of seven, you have to try something different,” Dunleavy said.

“This franchise is used to great, great years. A lot of this has been brought on by our injury situation, but we still have to have the guys perform up to their levels. When guys aren’t performing up their levels consistently, nobody is safe, absolutely.”

It was a grim bunch of Lakers who gathered before the game, deferring comment while writers asked them about West’s blast.

“I really make it a point never to comment on things of this nature,” Worthy said.

“My only concern is the team and trying to get a win.”,

Said Magic Johnson: “I feel for them. A lot of times, you want to go out there yourself and play. The other night (when the Pacers routed the Lakers), I couldn’t stand it. What we used to do to teams for 12 years, the last five-six games, they’ve been doing to us.

“When you’re talking manpower-wise, it’s tough when you don’t have Vlade (Divac), who gave us somebody to go to down low, or myself. You’re asking this team to do a lot.”

Call it motivation, call it an ambush of an expansion team that had been on the road 12 days, but the Lakers tore into the Heat.

The Threatt-Smith pressing tandem forced three consecutive turnovers in the backcourt during a 13-0 first period run as the Lakers took a 33-19 lead.

By the second period, they were ahead by 53-36. After that, they ran--and the Heat chased.

Late Sunday, Laker veterans, the endangered species, resisted any suggestion they had been playing to protect their local careers.

“I’ve been in situations the last nine years where things were said,” Worthy said.

“Some of them were good, some not so good. The only thing I concern myself with is trying to go out on the floor and doing the best I can.

“I can’t control how someone feels and what they’re going to do.”

Laker Notes

The crowd was announced at 16,530, but there were an estimated 5,000 empty seats in the 17,505-seat Forum. . . . The 123 points were the Lakers’ season high. Their 35 points during the first quarter and 66 during the first half were also season highs. . . . Sam Perkins suffered a sprained neck, was taken to Centinela Hospital Medical Center for X-rays. . . . Magic Johnson played Miami’s Rony Seikaly one-on-one before the game and lost, 5-4.