THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : LOS ANGELES LAKERS vs. DETROIT PISTONS : Game 1 Leaves Magic Ill : First Pistons, Then Flu Level Lakers’ Leader

As if the Lakers weren’t already in a weakened state because of a severe case of the shooting shakes--a malady known to be deadly to 41-year-old centers--Magic Johnson spent the day on a sickbed Wednesday.

It turns out that the chills Johnson felt in the Lakers’ dressing room Tuesday night had nothing to do with Detroit’s 105-93 opening-game win in the National Basketball Assn. finals. He spent the night tossing and turning--hot one moment, cold the next--and when he showed up at the Forum Wednesday morning, trainer Gary Vitti took one look and sent him straight to the doctor.

The word from Marcus Welby was that Magic had the flu--complete with a temperature that broke 100, which is more than can be said for the Laker offense in Game 1. Johnson didn’t practice Wednesday and was put on medication.

And although the Lakers said they won’t know until game time tonight whether Johnson will be fit to play in Game 2, Mychal Thompson offered his own prognosis.

“The only way Magic won’t play is if they amputate both of his legs--and he’d still go out there in a wheelchair,” Thompson said. “This is the world championship.”

For that same reason, Detroit Coach Chuck Daly predicted that the Lakers will rally from their sick showing in Game 1, during which they had expired by the end of the first half, when the Pistons made two three-pointers in the last three seconds to take a 17-point lead.

What does Daly expect from the Lakers tonight?

“Rambo IV,” he said.

That so? Then bring him on, say the Pistons, who apparently fear no man after finally ridding themselves of a Bird.

“He’s coming to the game?” said forward John Salley, who is not only young, tall and strong, but could probably also tongue-tie Mychal Thompson. “I’ve always wanted to meet Sly (Stallone).”

While Salley and the rest of the Piston reserves waxed the Laker bench, scoring 32 points to 4 by Laker reserves Thompson and Michael (Shutout) Cooper, Riley rejected the idea that he needs reinforcements.

“I see I was criticized for the game being 9 against 7,” said Riley, who went only two-deep into his bench while Daly used four subs.

“Well, you guys are way off. It was 9 against 1. If I had had 7, I would have been happy.”

Riley, still smarting from what he called one of the team’s worst home playoff losses ever, said after watching tapes of the game that he had figured out what was wrong with the Lakers’ shooting 39.8%: the Laker shooters.

“Their defense did not have an impact on our game until they were 17 points ahead,” Riley said. “There was one defensive skirmish in the second quarter when their lead went from 6 to 14, but that was it.

“Their second-half defense was awesome, but in the first half we missed 17 blatantly open shots. We’ve just got to hit our shots.”

The Pistons have heard that one before, and frankly they’re getting as tired of hearing that as they are of hearing what bullies they’re supposed to be.

“Everybody keeps talking about open shots, how they’re missing easy shots,” said Detroit center Bill Laimbeer, whose strained left arch, suffered in a first-quarter collision with James Worthy, makes him questionable for tonight’s game.

“That’s all we kept hearing in the Boston and Chicago series: ‘They had easy shots, they just weren’t making them.’

“They can keep talking that way if they want to, but all of a sudden this series will be over and they’ll be saying, ‘What happened?’ ”

For Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, that very question was raised only a couple of hundred times Tuesday night by inquiring minds who wanted to know how the Laker center missed his first 7 skyhooks and scored only 8 points.

Wednesday morning, Salley was wondering the same thing.

“He was shooting the same shot, and it looked like it was going in to me,” Salley said. “But it didn’t fall.

“It’s going to start falling on Thursday, even if he has to turn and dunk that bleep.”

Salley, in his second season with the Pistons, said, since he was 5, he has been watching Abdul-Jabbar.

“Last year was the first time I ever played in the Forum and the first time I was on Kareem,” Salley said. “Rick (Mahorn) was playing him and fouled him, and when Kareem brought the ball down, I blocked it.

“It didn’t count, but I called my brother--the game wasn’t on TV, so how would he know?--and I said, ‘I blocked Kareem’s hook shot.’ And he’s saying, ‘Did you really?’ ”

There may have been a time when Salley and the rest of the Pistons were in awe of the Lakers, the Forum, the Laker girls, and the stars in every seat, but no more. That became clear in about two minutes Tuesday when the Pistons buried their first six shots.

“I think they came in here believing they could win,” Riley said. “But I think they were surprised at how easy it was.”

Piston point guard Isiah Thomas, for one, shot holes through the predictions that once thrust on a stage of this magnitude, he would become obsessed with polishing his own star. Thomas did not have spectacular numbers Tuesday--19 points, 12 assists, 6-of-16 shooting--but he exhibited great self-control to the very end.

“With about a minute left, Isiah looked over at John McEnroe, and McEnroe looked back at him,” Salley said with a laugh. “Then it was like, ‘Oh, I still got to play.’ ”

While Riley said that the Lakers arrived at practice this morning “a little angry and upset--and I hope it gets worse”--it’s hard to imagine that the Pistons could have been any looser. Dennis (Worm) Rodman even had an idea for Riley on how to stop Detroit forward Adrian Dantley, who scored 34 points against A.C. Green and the phantom Lakers who tried to help him.

“I think I’m the only guy who can guard Adrian,” Rodman said in all earnestness. “I make him work. I give him lots of problems.”

That’s the beauty of being a Piston reserve, according to Salley. You get to beat up on the Piston starters.

“They stink in practice,” Salley said. “It’s amazing what they can do in games.”

Salley added, however, that nothing the Lakers do tonight will amaze him.

“They’re going to hit their shots,” he said. “They’re not Boston, who might have been tired.

“This is a different series. Magic’s going to be out there on the court, putting things in their heads, saying stuff.”

That’s about what Daly figures, too.

“The onslaught early will be unbelievable,” he said. “They’ll attack in every way.”

And maybe tonight, they’ll even hit the basket.