Lakers Take Out Spurs, Give Fears the Boot, 107-97

By SCOTT HOWARD-COOPER

April 8, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The mountain the Lakers scaled Sunday afternoon was more imposing than David Robinson and more unforgiving than Sean Elliott running the wing on a three-on-one fastbreak. This was about conquering their demons and the San Antonio Spurs, one and the same as of late.

It came with a 107-97 victory before 17,130 at the Forum and a national-television audience, when another strong showing by Laker reserves was enough to offset the 40 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks by Robinson. A victory for their emotional standing as much as the standings.

“Very big,” said Magic Johnson, back after sitting out Friday’s victory over Vancouver because of tendinitis in his left Achilles’ tendon. “They had a stranglehold on us. We didn’t have the confidence against them. We had been looking at this game a long time--’Man, we haven’t beat San Antonio.’ So this was a big win for our confidence, our psyche.”

Actually, the Lakers had defeated San Antonio, but only once in the previous 10 regular-season meetings, and the Spurs had won six of seven visits to Inglewood. A year ago, the Spurs were the team the otherwise fearless Lakers didn’t want to face in the playoffs. When that matchup came, in the second round, the series lasted six games, enough to prove the favored team beatable, just not long enough to do it.

This time, the Spurs came in as either one of the league’s hottest teams, having recently won a franchise-record 17 games in a row, or one of the mildest, what with two losses the previous three games and the most recent, Friday at home to sub-.500 Washington, by 20 points. Neither personality was particularly appealing to the Lakers--San Antonio in overdrive or San Antonio wanting to make a bounce-back statement.

To think the Lakers won going away, taking an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter, having that cut to six with 6:04 remaining and finally pushing it to 12 about two minutes later.

“They definitely, for playoff’s sake, had to establish the fact they could beat us,” Robinson said, “and they did. They played a great game.”

Said Laker guard Nick Van Exel: “They’ve been in our way. They’re still in our way because we play them one more time [in the regular season], but this is good for our confidence.”

Vlade Divac finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, giving him three double-doubles and one triple-double in the last four games. But the difference was the contributions from George Lynch, Anthony Peeler and Sedale Threatt off the bench, all of whom again played key minutes down the stretch.

The Lakers have won six of eight games, enough to start regarding a move past Utah for the No. 3 spot in the West as something more than a remote possibility, largely because the reserves have played so well. Even Derek Strong made a contribution in his two minutes of play, a buzzer-beating 19-foot shot to end the third quarter.

“Coach is giving everybody a chance to be involved and giving us minutes we can do something with,” Lynch said. “It’s not just a couple of minutes and then you’re out. And the guys are taking advantage of it.”

Now, that same bench may be getting deeper, although this should not be confused with good news for the Lakers. Johnson appears headed back to his former role as sixth man because the Achilles’ tendon continues to be a painful problem, enough that Johnson will have his playing time reduced significantly and may even skip some of the final eight regular-season games to recover for the playoffs.

Only two days after sitting out against the Grizzlies, he played 41 minutes against the Spurs, a minute shy of his season high, after which Johnson talked of swelling around the ankle and the Lakers said they will try to keep him around 20-25 minutes the next two weeks. He has averaged 38.6 points in nine games after becoming a starter, but the new time constraints make it unlikely he will continue in that role.

The move comes as the Lakers have taken advantage of Utah’s struggles to move within three games of the Jazz for third place in the conference with seven to play, the difference between playing Houston in the first round and either Portland or Phoenix. But the Jazz also has a four-game stretch later in the week, with two of the games against the Clippers and one each against the Warriors and Grizzlies.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Magic Marker / Tracking Magic Johnson’s comeback

SUNDAY’S GAME

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Min. FG FT Pts. Reb. Ast. 41 4-11 (.364) 5-6 (.833) 15 9 7

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SEASON AVERAGES

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Min. FG% FT% Pts. Reb. Ast. 31 .481 .872 15.7 5.9 6.9

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CAREER AVERAGES

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