So what do you know? The Bulls are in Los Angeles just in time to meet the league`s hottest team, the Lakers. Yeah, those Lakers. The ones of the 2-5 start, playing to sections of empty seats in the Forum, grumbling over a new system with a new coach, an aging Magic Johnson, no center, no running game. . . .
Well, no more.
The Lakers are riding a league-best 14-game winning streak and, since losing five of their first seven, they`re the best team in the NBA, going 31-6 to 31-8 for Portland`s Trail Blazers, whom they trail by just four games in the division.
And it all started back in December when the Bulls whipped them 114-103. They started to run more and went back to much of their old system under Pat Riley. But they also began playing defense in winning 19 of 21 games since.
”Our defense has been the key,” said Johnson. ”Coach (Mike) Dunleavy has been preaching it, and we`ve been responding to it.”
So much so that five of their last eight opponents have been held to fewer than 100 points, and four of those fewer than 90. Rival coaches say they may be the league`s best team at rotating on defense and using their uniformly tall players to thwart shooters. And after being the only team other than the Nuggets to allow opponents to shoot better than 50 percent after seven games, the Lakers are now the only team other than the Pistons to hold opponents beneath 100 points per game on the season.
It`s the same old formula.
”Riley did a lot for us,” said Mychal Thompson, recently rescued from a bench exile and averaging 16 points in the last three games. ”But when you come down to it, Magic didn`t quit or retire and James (Worthy) didn`t and Byron (Scott) didn`t.”
And it turns out Johnson may not be done just yet, despite such rumblings.
”I know everybody says, `He cannot play the way he used to,`
” acknowledged Johnson. ”But we`ve got two low-post players, and the middle is not open like it used to be. I laugh when I hear it. I`m trying to make us a better team, and if I go out and try to prove myself, I might not make us a better team.”
And he thinks his team may be good enough to go all the way again, as well as that of an old friend`s-Larry Bird.
”I think you`re going to see the Lakers and Celtics having a say-so on what happens,” said Johnson. ”You can believe that.”
– Nuggets flowers: Another team on the move-although no one is printing playoff tickets-is Denver, winner of seven of nine going into the weekend after a 6-28 start.
The Nuggets` winning pretty much coincides with coach Paul Westhead`s scrapping his full pressing game.
”We`re pooling our defensive resources closer to the basket,” is how Westhead put it. Which means they`re finally guarding people.
So the Nuggets are averaging 116 in the last nine games after averaging 124.4 in the first 34. But they`re allowing 119 compared with 136.8 in the first 34 and holding opponents to 46 percent shooting after allowing 53 percent in the first 34 games.
Asked about the turnaround, former English professor Westhead said:
”Fresh cut flowers lose their smell in a brief time, but they`re sure beautiful while you have them.”
Of course, it also helps that Denver had its little petal, Michael Adams, playing again. He`s averaging 35.4 points in his last five games and was involved in one of the most unusual incidents of the season last week in Milwaukee: Bucks coach Del Harris ran onto the floor during the game to protest a non-call, and Adams, on a fast break, ran into Harris.
”I looked up,” recalled Adams, ”and said, `What`s he doing there?` But at that point I couldn`t stop.”
Harris was ejected and fined $1,000. But, demonstrating he hasn`t lost complete control of himself as his team stumbles badly, Harris reportedly told his players after the game: ”They blew that call, too. It was a charge.”
– Malone maligned: Atlanta`s gentlemanly Dominique Wilkins was charged up after a confrontation with Utah`s Karl Malone last week.
”I told Karl, `You`re a cheap-shot artist, you`re not a man, not a true power forward,` ” said Wilkins. ”I told him, `You always go out there to hurt someone smaller than you, that`s your game.` He got mad and said things to me. I`m not afraid of him. I told him, `Buck Williams is a man, a real power forward. He`s strong, he plays the game.` I told him, `You`re a cheap-shot guy, no two ways about it.` I`ve got no respect for him.”
– Punch crunch: The Rockets` Vernon Maxwell went 2 for 16 the game after he scored 51 points, 30 in the fourth quarter. But he says he now can handle what comes his way. ”I`ve matured a lot since the time I was going out to clubs and punching guys.”
– Around the league: The Bulls again avoided one of the toughest trips in sport, the Texas triangle, when teams play Dallas, San Antonio and Houston in succession. It happens 13 times this season, and the overall all-time record of foes is 124-197. . . . Utah`s Scott Layden says Portland traded for Walter Davis ”just to keep him from the teams out West. And that was a good move.” Phoenix and the Lakers also were talking to the Nuggets. . . . The Olympic coach will be selected March 1 from a short list selected Feb. 11.
Joe Barry Carroll on joining Phoenix: ”I never went to bed at night saying I`ve got to get back in the NBA. I kind of assumed I was dug in for winter.” . . . Charles Barkley will film a bit part in a movie, ”Hot Shots,” next week with Bill Laimbeer. Said Barkley: ”I think it will be a great opportunity to work with a distinguisghed actor.” . . . The Clippers`
Ron Harper on his return to a standing overation: ”If this were still Cleveland, they`d clap twice and say, `Screw you.` ”
Isiah Thomas asked the Connecticut surgeon, Kirk Watson, who operated on his wrist for a list of some former patients so Thomas could question them. Watson, glad to cooperate, said he had done a similar operation on a basketball player named Adrian Dantley. Thomas did not call. . . . And this discussion on the Gulf War overheard in the Pacers` locker room: George McCloud: ”What`s the name of their God. Isn`t it Allah or something? LaSalle Thompson: ”Allah? Alaa Abdelnaby? He`s not a guard. He`s a forward.”
