Lakers Knock the Super Out of Sonics : Game Late, but Lakers Are Early

Six months into the season, the Lakers still have people asking: “Are these guys really that good?”

Yes, they are.

Playing against a Seattle team that seems to think the Lakers still have Chamberlain, West and Baylor, or at the very least Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson and Worthy, the no-name little Lakers fooled ‘em again Monday night at the Forum, winning playoff Game 3 with a great, great effort, 105-101.

On the verge of making it to the second round of the playoffs--about two years ahead of schedule, I’d say--the Lakers did another number on the shell-shocked SuperSonics, who are one defeat away from clinching the NBA postseason’s Least Valuable Player awards for the second consecutive season. Cover your ears. Here comes another Sonic boom.

The game began closer to 8 o’clock than to its scheduled 7:30 p.m. tipoff, thanks to TNT, your “We’ll Start This Game When We Damn Well Please” television network. Laker fans sat waiting impatiently for the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers to either conclude 2 1/2 hours of basketball or to score 80 points, whichever came first.

The czars of the telestrators already have notified the Lakers of a possibility that Thursday’s Game 4 could begin as late as 8:30 p.m., West Coast time, which of course means that on that other coast, the game wouldn’t end until somewhere between Conan O’Brien and Bryant Gumbel. School kids quizzed by their teachers Friday to explain why they’re nodding off in class should bring notes from their mothers that read: “He was up this morning watching last night’s game.”

Man, when TNT talks about overnight ratings, they really mean overnight ratings.

As soon as Game 3 finally got going here in the much-dissed Pacific time zone, the Lakers found themselves in a zone of their own. Bang, tricky Nicky Van Exel for a trey. Bang, a running jumper by Anthony Peeler. Bang, Vlade Divac from the baseline. Bang, steal by Cedric Ceballos and pass to a peeling-out Peeler. The score was 12-2 before you could say “Detlef Schrempf.”

SuperSonic coaching genius George Karl called a timeout, huddling with his players and obviously giving them such sound advice as: “You guys pull that Denver Nugget choke on me again and I’ll throw you off the bleeping Space Needle.”

Almost immediately, the SuperSonics began running their best play, passing the ball to Shawn Kemp and getting out of his way. Kemp, who looks like the sort of guy who could call Patrick Ewing a sissy, quickly sank a skyhook and a putback. Then he and Sam Perkins dropped back and invited their teammates to do something, anytime they wanted to pitch in and help.

(Seattle guards combined in the quarter for a whopping four points.)

The Lakers toughened up. George Lynch came into the game and began to scrap. Going up strong for one shot, Lynch was whacked in the act by two men simultaneously, first by Vincent Askew--or, as he is known to New York sportscasters, Vincent Ax You--and then again for good measure by Ervin (Matchstick) Johnson, the SuperSonics’ skinny center. Lynch got mobbed.

But his dead-center free throws put the Lakers in front by 13 points. They were flying.

And then came the hoop de grace . Talk about flying, Eddie Jones came from somewhere in the rafters like the phantom of the opera, palmed a rebound above the rim and jammed it home with authority , as long as we’re using Marv Albert-isms. The whole Forum erupted as Eddie’s quarter-beater made the score 34-22, making East Coast TV viewers marvel in amazement: “Thirty-four points in one quarter?”

The second quarter offered more of the same. Bang, Nick Van Exel for three more. Bang again, N.V.E. for three.

Lakers, 44-26.

SuperSonics, timeout.

Karl, apoplectic.

A look came over Van Exel’s baby face like the one on Michael Jordan’s that night when he looked toward the scorer’s table and shrugged that “I-can’t-miss” shrug of his. The SuperSonics were in a super-stupor. They were down by 18 points. Their defense had surrendered 44 points in a little more than 15 minutes. Seattle’s hopes looked about as bright as an afternoon in Tacoma.

Famous faces among the spectators materialized on the Forum overhead screen, giving giddy fans the opportunity to provide an impromptu crowd-o-meter:

Charlie Sheen . . . YAY.

Norm Nixon . . . YAY.

Robert Shapiro . . . BOO.

Jack Nicholson . . . YAY.

Al Davis . . . BOO.

But just when everyone was enjoying a good laugh, an unfunny thing happened at the Forum. Seattle staged a comeback. And this was no slow, prolonged, tortoise-like comeback. This was more like insta-comeback. The rally made up so much ground, so abruptly, that before the Lakers knew what was happening, the score became 46-44. It was a ballgame again.

And that’s what it stayed the rest of the way. The SuperSonics kept attacking. They came with everything they had--stop-and-pop, shake-and-bake, Kemp-and-Schrempf.

Repeatedly, their tongues hanging from the effort, the Lakers summoned up bursts of energy and pulled away. Up again, they would go by 15. Down again, they would go until the difference was three. Forward they would go, taking control. Back again they would slide, inviting disaster.

This game was so crazy, it turned Del Harris’ hair brown.

Even with a measly 3.8 seconds remaining and a four-point lead, the Lakers could not relax. Merely in-bounding the ball became an ordeal. Chick Hearn had opened the door and put the game in the refrigerator, but the Laker fans’ knees were still knocking. Heaven help them if this game had lasted 30 more seconds.

But ultimately it belonged to the Lakers, as does a 2-1 edge in the series. The Lakers played wonderfully. They hope to wrap this thing up in Inglewood on Thursday night, and on TNT by Friday morning.