Lakers Rally to Defeat Warriors : Abdul-Jabbar Reaches Another Milestone (35,000 Points)

One night it’s a road trip for the Lakers and the next night it’s an ego trip. This must be the appropriate course when you’ve booked passage to the playoffs.

The Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors, 124-117, Sunday night in the Forum before a full house of 17,505, and Maurice Lucas said the Lakers needed to win, if only for one compelling reason.

“Losing is bad for our egos,” Lucas said. “At this point in the season, for our egos and our personal frames of mind, we can’t be losing to no teams like this.”

The Lakers already have their playoff ticket safely tucked away, but losing Saturday night in Seattle was a little unsettling to them.

And the possibility of getting beat by the Warriors, no matter how well they have played the Lakers this season, would have been a bad trip indeed for an egocentric bunch of jump shooters.

So the state of the Lakers mental health improved considerably once they snapped out of another frigid start. They did it with improved offensive movement, better passing as well as with the usual weapons.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the leading scorer in the history of the NBA, reached another scoring milestone when he scored the 35,000th point of his career.

Of somewhat lesser historical significance, James Worthy scored 34 points, which made him the leading scorer in the game. Worthy’s job was made easier by Magic Johnson, who passed out 19 assists.

The Lakers shook off a 20-point first quarter and won going away, even if it took them most of the game to get in that position. In fact, the Lakers weren’t able to pull away until Warrior center Joe Barry Carroll left with a bloody nose.

When Carroll went out, after he was accidentally struck in the nose by someone (teammate Greg Ballard, it appeared in taped replays), the Lakers were ahead only 111-108.

From then on, the Lakers took over. Larry Smith’s rebound basket cut the lead to one point, but without Carroll, the Lakers dominated the area near the basket.

Abdul-Jabbar dropped two free throws, Johnson blocked Jerome Whitehead and Worthy sprung loose for a breakaway. The rest was pretty much all Worthy.

First, he rebounded a misfire by Eric (Sleepy) Floyd and Abdul-Jabbar scored on a skyhook. Then after stealing the ball from Floyd, Worthy dunked for a 119-110 Laker lead.

It all happened so quickly and then it was over. But why did the Lakers wait so long?

“It’s hard to get up for these games,” Johnson said.

Carroll has no problems getting up for the Lakers. He had 22 points in another of his good nights against the Lakers and might have made a difference down the stretch, but he couldn’t get his nose to stop bleeding.

“Once I did, the game was over,” said Carroll, who was unsure who hit him.

“I’m sure I have no career in boxing,” he said.

The Warriors are also very close to having no playoffs for the ninth consecutive season. Yet with Floyd squirming for 28 points and until the moment Carroll departed, Golden State looked like it might improve on its 5-31 road record, the worst in the NBA.

Instead, the Lakers got another victory when they didn’t play especially well, unlike what happened in Seattle when they didn’t play very well at all and got beat.

Worthy said losing games at this stage of the season is something the Lakers had best avoid doing.

“You can’t create a negative atmosphere,” he said. “Losing games always leads to problems and when you do that, more problems are created. We’re just trying now to prepare for the playoffs. We have to play hard. We can’t take any days off.”

Even though Smith played a strong inside game for the Warriors, the Lakers got 10 rebounds from Abdul-Jabbar and also 8 rebounds in 21 minutes from Maurice Lucas, who continues to improve on his power game.

Laker Coach Pat Riley used 6-8 Kurt Rambis to defend the Carroll, but the 7-0 Warrior center used his height to his advantage. Byron Scott scored 22 points in 30 minutes, including 10 points in a 40-point Laker third quarter that finally put them ahead.

Abdul-Jabbar, who now has 35,004 points in his 17-year career, reached his new plateau with a spinning, left-handed hook shot that bounced three times before finally falling through the basket.

The milestone was another special achievement for Abdul-Jabbar, who was treated to a standing ovation by the Forum crowd.

“I never thought I would be in the league this long,” he said. “I figured I would play seven or eight years, make my million and retire.”

The Lakers have already agreed to pay Abdul-Jabbar $2 million to play next season, after which he can go ahead and retire.

“It’s getting to that time when there are other things becoming more important in my life,” he said. “I can come back for one more year and help the Lakers.”

Laker Notes

The Lakers didn’t didn’t get off to a great start Sunday morning either. Their early morning flight from Seattle was cancelled and the Lakers didn’t arrive at LAX until about 2 1/2 hours before they were supposed to be in the Forum. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar didn’t show up until 6:55 p.m. “Today was just a bad day all around,” he said. “My car wouldn’t start. I think I have a dead battery.” . . . There were two security guards in the Laker dressing room after the game looking after Magic Johnson, who has received written threats. One of the messages was left on his car Sunday night in the Forum parking lot.