Lakers Caught on the Rebound : Pro basketball: Rodman dominates inside again as the Pistons win, 98-93.

Talk about your matchups:

The incredible rebounding machine visits Carom City.

Dennis Rodman, the Piston dervish who lives on other peoples’ misses, met the Lakers, the gang that can’t shoot straight, with predictable results. They shot 41%, he took 20 rebounds and the Pistons scored a 98-93 victory Sunday before 17,505, 10,000 of whom had left the Forum before the result was final.

The Lakers have lost six of their last eight at home, and that is the good news.

They are off on a five-game eastern swing with two sets of back-to-back games. And they are without James Worthy, who will miss at least the start of the trip.

And they are . . . discouraged?

“I can’t speak for the guys,” guard Byron Scott said. “I’m discouraged. At least, that’s one of 11.

“You get to a point where you’re tired of doing the same old things and coming up with the same old results. You play hard and you still lose.

“There are only three of us here who have won championships (Scott, Worthy and A.C. Green). It makes it tough. We’ve never experienced anything like this before.

“The other guys, maybe for some of them it’s really not a big deal. Most of them probably have experienced it. They think we’ll come right out of it.

“If this isn’t the time to push the panic button as far as making the playoffs, I don’t know what it is.

“My opinion right now, we’re pretty much divided. I don’t see a lot of guys doing all the little things we have to do right now for us to win. I see us playing a one-on-one game, and that’s not our style. I don’t think it’s because people are selfish. I think everybody is just trying to do something to make us win. . . . I think we’ve just lost our concentration on defense.”

Worthy sat on the bench in street clothes on Sunday. Magic Johnson wore a blue NBC blazer and broadcast the game. One of his partners asked him beforehand if his teammates were using his absence as a crutch.

Johnson said they weren’t.

The Pistons, 13-14 on Christmas morning, arrived with some momentum, having won 23 of their previous 34 games. Rodman came in averaging 23 rebounds for 11 games.

Sure enough, the Pistons moved to a 37-27 lead early in the second quarter.

The Lakers caught up, tying the score at halftime, 42-42.

But during the third period, Joe Dumars beat Scott on clear-outs for eight consecutive points. Dumars scored 12 of his game-high 25 during the quarter. The Pistons went ahead by 11 points; the Lakers were never again closer than seven until the final seconds.

Late in the afternoon, Laker Coach Mike Dunleavy made a rare critique that wasn’t pointed at his entire squad.

Said Dunleavy: “If we can get one guy on the bench to step forward and give us some consistent minutes, we can make the playoffs.”

This was not taken as a compliment for Chucky Brown, Terry Teagle and Tony Smith.

Nor did it look good for Elden Campbell, who had 25 points at Portland last week and eight in the next two games.

Sunday, Campbell started, but played only 11 minutes.

“There’s nothing you can say, no formula,” Campbell said. “I wish I could say you have to do this and that. You just have to keep playing.”

Said Smith, struggling after being promoted to No. 2 point guard four games ago: “Everybody wants to be that spark. I think everybody is doing as well as they can.”

Laker Notes

James Worthy’s sore left knee will be re-evaluated today. Coach Mike Dunleavy said Worthy definitely won’t play Tuesday at New York. The Lakers will play Wednesday at Atlanta, and Worthy will probably be held out of that game, too. . . . Laker guard Byron Scott missed seven of nine shots and scored six points. Guard Sedale Threatt missed 11 of 17.

Dennis Rodman has 20 rebounds or more in 31 of Detroit’s 62 games. Last season, the Houston Rockets’ Larry Smith led the NBA with eight 20-rebound games. Rodman is listed at 6 feet 8 but says he is really 6-6. He limited Sam Perkins, who usually does well against smaller defenders, to five-for-12 shooting. . . . The Pistons’ Isiah Thomas on the Lakers: “They’re missing that emotion right now. With Magic (Johnson), the crowd got into it and it helped the team. Now, they’re missing that emotion, which is important to have game by game.”