L's Trounce C's

June 3, 1985

Section: SPORTS

LAKERS SHOW UP CELTICS, 136-111

INGLEWOOD, Calif.

More role reversal. East is West, West is East. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a backboard-eating rebounder, while Larry Bird is missing open jumpers in the clutch. The Lakers are getting the rebounds and floor burns, while the Celtics are getting their hides tanned.

Looking every bit the inferior team, Boston's traveling troupe was shoved off the Forum floor yesterday afternoon. A national television audience and a howling Hollywood throng (which had enough stars in it for a remake of "We Are the World") saw the Lakers take a 2-1 championship-series lead yesterday with a 136-111 conquest of the Green.

Abdul-Jabbar had 26 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, rocketman James Worthy chipped in with 29 high-flying points, and Magic Johnson guided the passionate Lakers with 17 points, 16 assists and nine rebounds.

Meanwhile, Bird made only eight of 21 shots, and Boston's starting guards, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge, clanged the rims to the tune of 23 percent (5 for 22). DJ and Ainge have had fickle fingers throughout their careers, but Bird is mired in the most ill-timed drought of his six historic seasons. Stripped of his fast ball, Bird is still an effective artist, but the Celtics are trying to win without their most potent weapon.

Two more games like yesterday's and Paul Mooney can shut out the lights on Causeway Street. If the Celtics don't win here Wednesday or Friday, they can hold their breakup dinner at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

The week-old Memorial Day Massacre (Boston's 148-114 victory in Game 1) now seems part of another season. Was it a dream, or is this a Celtic nightmare? The Lakers haven't been the same since. Neither have the Celtics.

"They were expecting us to crawl into a hole," Laker assistant coach Dave Wohl said after yesterday's drubbing. "We're not gonna do it. It's like the bully on the block. Day after day he takes your lunch money, he takes your quarter. You finally have to deal with it. All of a sudden you whack him and find out it's something you should have done four years ago. Our guys are tired of having their lunch money taken away."

There was no full-fledged barroom brawl yesterday, but there were five technical fouls, one ejection (of Ray Williams, for tackling Kurt Rambis), and plenty of shoving matches and entanglements. It seemed like a hockey game might break out at any moment.

"The misconception about this team is that we run up and down the court and don't play physical," said Bob McAdoo, who scored 19 points off the pine. "You don't get to the finals four straight years without being a physical team. We're tired of being called a patsy team from the West . . . They're very disrespectful."

When the Lakers weren't forechecking with the body, they were rebounding, running and capitalizing on Boston mistakes. LA had 49 rebounds to Boston's 37, the same count posted in LA's Game 2 victory in Boston. In overcoming a 10-point second-quarter deficit, LA scored 25 points on 15 Celtic turnovers.

"There's no excuse for the way we're playing," said Kevin McHale, who scored a game-high 31 points (10-of-13 shooting) with 10 rebounds. "They're beating us on the boards and beating us up and we have to go out and play harder."

McHale was the focus of Boston's offense, but even Red Auerbach said that the Celtics were looking inside too much.

Bird missed five of his first six shots, but McHale scored eight in the first as Boston bolted to a 29-25 lead. Abdul-Jabbar kept the Lakers in it with 12 points and five rebounds in the first 12 minutes. Worthy didn't score in the period.

McHale and Robert Parish got it going in the second and the Celtics had a stunning 48-38 lead when Parish scored with 7 minutes 16 seconds left in the half.

Then Worthy, Magic and Kareem went to work, leading a 22-7 run that pushed LA to a 61-55 lead. LA scored 40 points in the second quarter and it was 65-59 at the half.

Taking advantage of Bird's lack of foot-speed, Worthy exploded for 14 in the third quarter as the Lakers ran away from the Celtics. They outrebounded Boston, 13-7, in the period and led, 100-85, at the end of three. Parish did not have a point or a rebound after intermission.

Boston's gradual disintegration was complete when the Celtics scored only one field goal in the first 5 minutes of the final period. LA's lead cracked the 20-point barrier with 7:47 left. Goonball dominated most of garbage time.

Boston's low point came when Williams was ejected for tackling Rambis near the LA bench with 4:11 left. The Lakers led, 120-100, and Forum fans were treated to Carlos Clark and Chuck Nevitt in the final minutes.