Jazz Have No Potion for Magic : Layden Gets Over Pneumonia, Falls to Lakers, 111-97

Frank Layden, the Utah coach and funnyman who never missed a game in his life until sitting out two last week because of viral pneumonia, was relieved to find out there was nothing else wrong with him.

“The other day I got scared that I had a heart problem or blood clots,” Layden said Wednesday night after the Lakers beat the Jazz, 111-97, for their eighth straight victory.

“It reminds me of the guy who went to the doctor with a cold and the doctor told him to go sit on a piece of ice naked in the rain.

“ ‘But Doc,’ the guy said, ‘you’re crazy, I’ll catch pneumonia in the rain.’

“ ‘We can cure pneumonia,’ the doctor said. ‘We just can’t cure your cold.’

“Fortunately, I just had pneumonia. We’ve got some witch doctors in Utah who took care of me. They burned some feathers, cut some entrails out of . . . oh, let’s not continue that.”

That might have worked for what was ailing Layden, but it’s doubtful that even a little voodoo could have helped the Jazz cope with Magic Johnson, who rang up his fifth triple-double of the season with 27 points, 19 assists, and 11 rebounds.

“I can’t run and hide,” said Layden, asked about the mismatches Johnson creates when he posts up against smaller guards.

“I wish I could fly Larry Bird in to play, but I’ve got to play the guys I got.

“Anybody in the league can post up anybody else. You have to get help from the men in front. That’s our philosophy, and I blame the people who don’t go out and help.”

Besides, Layden said, Johnson was hurting the Jazz more when he was in the open floor than when he was wheeling on the baseline against Darrell Griffith, et al.

“He gives them what they need,” said Utah forward Karl Malone, who gave everything he had--27 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals--in a losing cause.

“Anything they need, he can provide. . . . The question now is, can he get any better? If he can, that’s a scary thought.”

These days, the same question is often heard about the Lakers, whose record is 52-14, which gives them a four-game lead over Boston for the league’s best record with 16 games to play.

The Lakers, who lost their last two games to the Jazz, both in Utah, opened this one with a 12-0 spurt. When the Jazz closed to 26-22, the Lakers ran off another 11 points in a row.

The Jazz closed to 55-49 at the half, but the Lakers pushed it back up to 74-56 with 6:20 left in the third quarter.

One last time, the Jazz made a charge, closing to within 91-82, with Malone and Griffith scoring two baskets each in an 8-0 run.

But A.C. Green hit a jumper and Michael Cooper buried a three-pointer, and in 80 seconds the Lakers were back up by 14. The Laker lead was never less than double digits the rest of the way, as Utah went six straight possessions without a basket.

After John Stockton’s miss, Malone was called for a loose ball foul. Kelly Tripucka lost the ball on a drive to Magic. Then Byron Scott stole the ball on two straight possessions, Utah center Mark Eaton was caught holding the ball as the shot clock expired, and Thurl Bailey committed offensive goaltending.

By the end of that stretch, the Laker lead 102-84, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar banking in a sky hook to give the Lakers their biggest lead.

“I’ve always said the season is too long, and tonight you saw tired referees and tired teams, including the Lakers,” Layden said, noting the excessive sloppiness of the fourth quarter--eight turnovers by each team.

In the game, the Jazz turned over the ball 19 times, the Lakers 15.

More than fatigue was involved, according to Laker Coach Pat Riley, who had subjected his team to a rare airing-out after the last loss in Utah.

“Every game we play against them is like that,” Riley said. “But tonight was the kind of game where in three or four situations we played flawless basketball where we broke it open. That’s a result of aggressive defense.

“Then their defense stiffens, we get a little careless, and it gets close again.”

But the way Johnson operated, it wasn’t going to get too close. In the third quarter alone, the Laker guard accounted for 26 of his team’s 31 points, scoring 12 and dishing off for 14 more.

“Magic really had it rolling tonight,” Jazz guard Rickey Green said. “The way he penetrates and dishes off, it’s like giving layups to Cooper and Scott when they’re hitting.”

The Lakers, who had their two poorest shooting nights of the season in Utah, hit a below-average 47.5% against the Jazz. James Worthy had 21 points, Byron Scott added 17 and Cooper had 10 off the bench, including two three-pointers.

Abdul-Jabbar--so badly outplayed in his last encounter with the 7-4 Eaton--scored only 12, but Eaton finished with more blocks (7) than points (6), making just 2 of 8 shots from the floor.

With A.C. Green grabbing 13 rebounds and Cooper adding 6, the Lakers won the battle of the boards, 51-43. And for effect, rookie Billy Thompson threw in the night’s spectacular, blocking a shot by Eaton--despite giving away 10 inches--then throwing in a Jordanesque jam on the other end, bringing the ball down to knee level before throwing down a two-handed reverse.

“The Lakers are one of the three best teams in basketball,” Layden said. “My team could play the Lakers 100 times and they’d beat us 97 times.

” . . . When we were back East, everybody would ask me, who do you think would win a Laker-Celtic final. But if I’m a betting man and it’s the Kentucky Derby, I want to make sure my horse gets in first.

“I’m not so sure that’s the way it’s going to be. If we’re sure that’s the way it’s going to be, then (expletive) it, let’s quit right now.”

Laker Notes

Utah Coach Frank Layden said Wednesday he doesn’t believe deliberate intent was involved when A.C. Green fouled Bob Hansen of the Jazz on a 2-on-1 fastbreak and separated Hansen’s shoulder when the teams played on Feb. 28. Hansen hasn’t played since, although Layden said he should be back in time for Utah’s game against Houston on Saturday. “I don’t think there was an attempt to hurt anybody,” Layden said. “I don’t think it was a dirty play. But I think the league has to take a hard look at rough play. Ten years ago when a guy had a breakaway basket, they let ‘em take it. Now, they don’t. They tackle the guy. One of these days we’re going to lose a Magic Johnson, and that’s going to hurt all of us. We’re a finesse game, and I don’t like some of the rough stuff. Too many people are getting knocked to the floor.”