Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990 TAG: 9005170244
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON RAPOPORT LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: INGLEWOOD, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
The Phoenix Suns killed the Lakers, to be sure. They were the better team and they richly deserved their NBA playoff victory. But it does not detract from the magnitude of the Suns' 4-1 Western Conference semifinal victory to note that the Lakers put the weapon in their hands.
The Lakers were unindicted co-conspirators in their early departure from the NBA playoffs, which ended with a 106-103 loss to Phoenix on Tuesday night at the Forum. It was the first time in nine years that Los Angeles failed to make the conference final series and only the second time since 1981 that they did not play in the NBA Finals.
Los Angeles stepped to the line, looked the underdog Suns in the eyes and flinched. The Lakers were outmanned, outhustled, outplayed and outwilled. The Suns wanted it more than they did, to coin a phrase. And for an entire week, they held the Lakers' noses to the grindstone of their desire.
There is barely a player on the Lakers roster who can escape culpability for a defeat that represents the end of one of the great competitive runs in the history of professional basketball. Nearly all the Los Angeles stars had an opportunity to stop the Phoenix onslaught. Nearly all of them failed.
Magic Johnson's brilliant effort in the last two games of the series surely provided an indelible vision of his talent and desire. But it is no small measure of how seriously the Lakers have deteriorated to note they lost the two highest-scoring playoff games their greatest player ever had.
And in the end, there was the depressing spectacle of Magic Johnson failing to make the plays that would have won the game. It was his misfortune to be merely brilliant on a night when only perfection would have been enough.
But the real culprits for the Lakers against Phoenix throughout the series were James Worthy and Byron Scott. Had either played simply adequately against the Suns, had either made a decent percentage of their shots, the series still would be in progress.
Worthy was a 54.8 percent field-goal shooter during the regular season. In the first playoff round against Houston, he hit on nearly two-thirds of his shots.
But Worthy followed his 5-for-21 performance Sunday afternoon in Phoenix with a 5-for-19 game Tuesday. He finished the series shooting 39 percent. It was for this reason as much as any other that the Lakers died.
Scott's demise was equally lethal and almost maddening in the questions it raises. In a four-game Lakers sweep of Phoenix in the playoffs last year, Scott was brilliant, scoring 24.8 points per game and making 57.8 percent of his field-goal attempts. But in two games in Phoenix last weekend, Scott was held to 13 points. Tuesday night, he scored 17. It was not enough.
Mychal Thompson, suffering from a foot injury, and Vlade Divac, looking like a rookie for the first time this season, also played key parts in the Lakers' failure. Their play was enough to make one wonder if Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had any pressing engagements that could not have been postponed.
In Tuesday's game, just about everybody had a hand in the misery.
Divac committed two fouls in a row. The Suns took the lead for good. Magic threw away the ball. The Suns came down court to lead by three. Worthy missed a hook in the lane. The Suns soon led by five. Magic missed a twisting left-handed shot in the lane. Two more free throws for Phoenix. Michael Cooper inbounded the ball crosscourt and out of bounds. The season ended.
Well, it is over now and there is no shame in that. These are the players Los Angeles revered and the rest of the basketball-speaking world respected for so long. Decline is as much a part of life, sporting and otherwise, as triumph and nothing that has happened this past week can diminish what the Lakers have achieved.
Now, however, they face the future. They face it as a soundly beaten team, as ordinary citizens of the NBA. Perhaps they may return in all their glory some time soon. In the meantime, Lakers fans have their memories to keep them warm.
Keywords:
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by CNB