Westhead Offers His Best Wishes : Reaction: He marvels at Johnson’s courage, although in earlier years they didn’t always agree.

Paul Westhead, who had been part of Magic Johnson’s early pro career, was there at the end, too. He was in Denver coaching the Nuggets, who played the Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday night at McNichols Arena not long after Johnson announced his retirement, but he was there.

“I think for all of us, the game in Denver was not a very happy occasion,” Westhead, back in Los Angeles, said Friday before the Nuggets played the Clippers at the Sports Arena. “The fans showed up and both teams showed up, but we kind of went through the routine of playing the game. There was no spark or spunk or excitement at all. I think both teams just wanted to play the game and leave.”

Westhead became Laker coach a few games into Johnson’s rookie season. The most memorable moment came at the end of that 1979-80 season, when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the center and team captain, was hurt during the NBA finals.

Johnson stepped in, first taking Abdul-Jabbar’s symbolic spot on the aisle in the front row of the plane heading back to Philadelphia, then his place in the starting lineup by playing center. Of all the events that came back to Westhead in the last 48 hours or so, that remained most vivid.

“I marveled at his ability to stand up and face his problem,” Westhead said. “As he was standing there (at the news conference), it reminded me of many experiences, both in games and practices. Any time we scrimmaged in practice and it was next basket wins, Magic would not allow his team to lose. He would either steal the ball, dunk the ball, call a foul, whatever. He seemed to follow that edict (Thursday). He refused to allow his spirit, and now his body, to fail. I think it’s a carryover from what I saw years ago.”

Early in Johnson’s third season, the coach-player relationship had become strained over attempts by Westhead to alter the offense. After Johnson publicly demanded to be traded, owner Jerry Buss fired Westhead, although Buss insists he had made the decision before Johnson’s statement.

But when Westhead was being considered by the Nuggets, Johnson recommended him to General Manager Bernie Bickerstaff.

Westhead plans to go through the Lakers to make contact with Johnson and send along his best wishes.

“I would like to talk to him, but I sure don’t want to overburden him,” Westhead said. “I’m sure about 5 million people would like to talk to him instantaneously and say, ‘Good luck.’ ”