Ellis, Spurs Have No Sympathy for Lakers : Pro basketball: San Antonio stays perfect under Lucas, ruin Threatt’s return with 104-92 victory.

Most people are content to send ailing friends flowers or a basket of fruit.

Dale Ellis greeted his old buddy, Sedale Threatt, just back from two days in Centinela Hospital Medical Center, with a 23-point second half as the San Antonio Spurs won their fourth game in a row, beating the Lakers, 104-92, Saturday night in the Forum.

The victory made Spur Coach John Lucas 3-0 while dropping Laker Coach Randy Pfund to 14-10, with four losses in five games, as the Lakers head for a six-game Eastern trip.

For variety, the Lakers, who had been starting poorly, fell apart late. They took a 52-47 lead at halftime, then watched Ellis go wild in the third quarter, scoring 17 points and shooting his team into an 81-73 lead.

The Lakers then plummeted in earnest, as the Spurs ran up a 17-point lead and coasted in.

Threatt, who spent two nights in the hospital after suffering a concussion Wednesday, started and played 34 minutes, scoring 14 points.

Ellis, a friend from their high school days in Atlanta and a teammate in Seattle, chatted briefly with him before the game. But he didn’t mind posting him up during the game.

“He didn’t look as much into the game as he usually does,” Ellis said. “It doesn’t take too long to get out of shape in this league.”

Sure enough, Pfund limited Threatt’s time when he saw him looking “very, very winded” during a timeout.

“I did get a little winded,” Threatt said. “I was in the hospital two days with them shooting me up every 10 minutes. I’m just glad to be back.”

The Lakers started slowly again, falling behind, 18-10, in the first five minutes. But unlike recent games, they didn’t wait for the second half to rally.

They led by five at halftime, when, in the Spurs’ locker room, it was Lucas’ turn to try to rally his team.

“I kinda went bonkers at halftime,” Lucas said. “Next thing you know, we were back in it.”

Ellis, who had missed five of his seven shots in the first half, made his first attempt in the third quarter and many thereafter.

Meanwhile, Lucas had pulled all his guards and was running 6-8 Sean Elliott at the point. The Lakers, who had built their game plan around attacking Vinny Del Negro, were confounded. Pfund tried to pressure Elliott with Tony Smith and double-teams, but Elliott escaped unruffled.

When Ellis, appropriately enough, scored his 16th and 17th points of the third quarter with a buzzer-beating 18-footer, the Spurs led, 81-73. The Lakers then collapsed in the fourth quarter, and there went the old home stand.

“If I had to characterize our problems, I don’t think we’ve been able to get a clear-cut picture of the things that our consistency is based on,” Pfund said later. “I think it’s based on Sedale and Sam Perkins, but our last two games, we haven’t been able to go to them as much.”

Four games into his own tenure, Lucas isn’t sure what he has. But he likes it.

“We keep adjusting,” he said. “It’s ugly, but we keep winning.”

This beats the Lakers’ current condition, which isn’t pretty or successful.

Laker Notes

A Laker spokesman denied an NBC report that the team is in negotiations to sell the team to Walt Disney Studios, which would move it to Anaheim. “Of all the rumors, this seems to me the most far-fetched,” Bob Steiner said. “I can conceive of no scenario that has the Lakers moving to Anaheim.” Steiner notes that Buss would hardly sell the team, deprive his own building of a tenant and turn it unprofitable. Nor, he said, would Disney be likely to be interested in buying the Forum to go with its new hockey team playing in Anaheim. . . . The Lakers did reportedly get a recent feeler from Sony but turned it down. “The Lakers are not for sale,” Steiner said. “We would like to be as adamant as we can. The Lakers are not for sale.”. . . . Saturday’s crowd was announced at 17,505, the second sellout of the season. . . . Randy Pfund on Byron Scott: “I’ve been led to believe, maybe if he can practice hard a couple of times, maybe he can play in the second game (of the trip, Wednesday at Orlando.)”