Magic Injured as Lakers Rout Trail Blazers, 120-95 : Fears Subside as X-Rays Show It’s Just Finger Sprain

Magic Johnson has produced eight triple-doubles this season, but he made news Friday night with a single digit.

The news wasn’t as bad as it first appeared to be when Johnson left the Lakers 120-95 blowout of Portland in the second quarter after jamming his right index finger on the basketball.

Johnson was immediately taken away for X-rays, which showed there was no fracture. He was diagnosed as having a sprained ligament in his finger, the same one that he dislocated last season forcing him to miss 13 games.

Trainer Gary Vitti said Johnson will miss Sunday’s game against San Antonio at the Forum, but he might be able to play against Denver Tuesday night, also in the Forum. Johnson will be examined again Monday.

“It doesn’t look too bad,” Vitti said. “And that’s refreshing.”

Laker Coach Pat Riley, who at first feared the worst, felt the same way when he learned about Johnson’s prognosis. A relieved Riley swooned to the floor of the Laker locker room as team physician, Dr. Stephen Lombardo, told him that Johnson’s injury was only a sprain.

“It’s a stinger for us to have Magic hurt,” Riley said. “I think we’ll be able to maintain. We’re going to have to dig down a little deeper.”

You have to dig pretty deep to find the Trail Blazers these days. Portland, which lost for the 11th time in its last 13 games, is playing hurt and playing badly.

They fell into a 16-4 hole at the start of the game, dropped behind by 15 points by the half and 22 after three quarters.

The Trail Blazers made it look alarmingly easy, partly because of injuries. Kenny Carr is out for an indefinite period after undergoing knee surgery, and Mychal Thompson missed his second consecutive game with the flu.

Meanwhile, Kiki Vandeweghe played a game he probably should have missed.

Vandeweghe, who has been struggling right along with the Trail Blazers, scored seven points in 23 minutes. But Portland Coach Jack Ramsay said Vandeweghe is trying to play in spite of a bad back, a bad knee and a bad arch.

“Other than that, he’s in terrific shape,” Ramsay said.

The Lakers are looking pretty good themselves, depending, of course, on how soon Johnson is able to return. Their victory, played before a crowd of 14,979 at the Forum, was the Lakers’ eighth in succession.

Since second-place Phoenix lost Friday night, the Lakers’ Pacific Division lead over the Suns is 5 1/2 games. They may need all of it, if Johnson is slow coming back.

The Lakers sure didn’t need him to beat the Trail Blazers, though. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 28 points in 28 minutes, befuddled rookie Portland center Sam Bowie, blocked a couple of shots and then sat down with three minutes left in the third quarter.

What he saw wasn’t very pretty. The fourth quarter began with five Laker non-starters starting, matched against a Portland lineup of four rookies and Clyde Drexler, a second-year player.

Drexler led the Trail Blazers with 19 points, but All-Star guard Jim Paxson, who, with Vandeweghe, is supposed to represent Portland’s real offense, had only six points on just eight field goal attempts.

“And I had to struggle to get eight shots,” Paxson said. “That shouldn’t happen.”

In Johnson’s absence, the role of point guard happened to fall to Michael Cooper, who had seven assists, and little-used Ronnie Lester, who has been collecting cobwebs on the Laker bench since he came here in late October.

“We have Cooper and he can handle the ball,” Riley said. “We also have Ronnie Lester, who showed he can do the job.

“Last year when Magic went down with an injury, we were 7-6. But last year Cooper was learning to play the point and we were experimenting with (Byron) Scott at that position.

“This year, Cooper and Scott have experience at the point, and we now have the gift of having Lester. He’ll give us a pure point guard on the break and the other guys won’t have to change their style of play. Of course, we’ll miss the leadership, experience and motivation Magic gives us night in and night out.”

With a single exception in a game at Philadelphia, Lester’s playing opportunities with the Lakers have been limited to garbage time. He said he is out of condition right now because he hasn’t played very much--only 23 minutes before Friday night.

“I’m not in real good shape to go out and play a whole lot of minutes, but it’s coming,” he said.