Lakers Lose in a Rout, but Knicks Lose Rivers

It should not have been a pivotal game in the New York Knicks’ drive toward the playoffs and a shot at the NBA championship.

Not this early in the season, when the Knicks would post a seemingly easy 108-85 victory over the Lakers and the biggest news figured to be Patrick Ewing becoming the team’s all-time scoring leader.

But then came the 5:53 mark of the third quarter Thursday night.

Doc Rivers, aside from Ewing probably the player the Knicks’ can least afford to lose, cried out and grabbed his left knee when he landed after a driving layup.

The crowd of 19,763--which only four minutes earlier had given Ewing a standing ovation as he achieved his milestone on a baseline jumper--went silent.

The injury was diagnosed as a severe sprain, but team officials said they are concerned about possible ligament damage that could sideline Rivers indefinitely. More tests are scheduled for today, and the Knicks seem to be bracing for the worst.

“First, obviously, it was a good win for us,” New York Coach Pat Riley said. “And it was nice also to see Patrick break the record and now he can move on to the next 15 or 18,000 points. But it’s also bittersweet with the possibility of a severe injury to Doc.”

Added forward Charles Oakley: “What Pat achieved is great, but that’s over. We’ve got to worry about Doc now.”

They do because Rivers is a team leader and because the Knicks were already thin in the backcourt. The injury, should it be serious, would leave New York with only one true point guard, Greg Anthony, which isn’t much of a consolation.

Anthony is shooting only 28.9% and was booed when he checked into the game and again when he blew a layup in the fourth quarter.

The Knicks do have options. They can promote reserve shooting guard Hubert Davis and make John Starks the primary ballhandler. Chances are also good the Derek Harper trade rumors will quickly surface.

“Short of Patrick Ewing missing from that team, they have so much heart that I think they will find a way to be competitive no matter who is in the lineup,” Laker Coach Randy Pfund said of the Knicks.

The other thing Pfund knew about being competitive Thursday was that the Lakers weren’t. Beaten on the boards again, they fell behind by 12 points in the first quarter, 18 in the second and 19 in the third, but, unlike when the teams met last Tuesday at the Forum, there was no comeback.

The Knicks, in winning their fifth game in a row and for the eighth time in the last 10 games, pushed the lead to 21 points midway through the fourth quarter and, finally, to 28, at 106-78.

Pfund knew it was going to be a difficult game so he challenged the Lakers beforehand, urging them to feed off the energy of the city and the fans inside Madison Square Garden.

“We didn’t respond for whatever reason,” Pfund said afterward. “Their rebounding, their aggressiveness seemed to make us more timid.”

Or maybe it only seemed that way.

“We tried to play with intensity and we tried to play hard, but that team is so good they make you look like you don’t play hard,” said Sam Bowie, who again started instead of Vlade Divac at center. “They’re the best team in the East. They’re so good they can embarrass you, and that is what they did to us tonight.”

Laker Notes

Patrick Ewing, who needed 19 points to pass Walt Frazier on the Knicks’ all-time scoring list, finished with 27, along with 11 rebounds. Ewing has scored 14,626 points. Charles Oakley added 21 points. . . . The Lakers’ James Worthy and Doug Christie scored 14 points each. Vlade Divac had a game-high 13 rebounds in 37 minutes off the bench, his most time in a regulation game since Nov. 26 at Indiana. . . . James Edwards rejoined the Lakers after missing Tuesday’s game at Detroit to visit his ailing mother in Washington, but did not play. . . . This is the first time New York has swept a season series from the Lakers two years in a row, even during the Minneapolis era.