Upstart Rockets Bound Into Lead, but Lakers Rebound for a Victory

The Lakers gave up 43 points in the first quarter Friday night. It looked like a pretty good time to be worried.

Laker Coach Pat Riley thought it was a good time to think about something else.

“You never lose anything in the first quarter,” he said.

And if anyone was worried that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had lost his shooting touch, it turned out that he had misplaced it only temporarily. Abdul-Jabbar scored a season-high 35 points, and the Lakers worked themselves out of an early hole to beat those upstart Houston Rockets, 120-112, before a full house at the Forum.

For a while in the early going, it looked more like a royal flush. The Rockets tried to shoot the Lakers into submission. Ralph Sampson, the now-but-maybe-not-forever Rocket, led an offensive attack that left the Lakers numbed but not yet beaten.

“You don’t expect to play four quarters like that,” Rocket Coach Bill Fitch said. “If you do, you’ve got nothing to look forward to the rest of your career.”

Unfortunately for the Rockets, they had only the rest of the game to look forward to. They may have reached their high-water mark a little too early. Although they still led by 10 points at halftime, they failed to sustain their advantage.

“The Lakers played very well once the wake-up call came,” Fitch said.

And who would answer? Abdul-Jabbar is the easy choice. But Kurt Rambis? Yes, the man Fitch refers to as Superman in the first mention of his name. Rambis reversed an early trend of Rocket domination of the backboards, and the Lakers themselves rebounded into the lead.

That happened in the third quarter during a brief flurry when the Lakers finally assumed control. Rambis finished with eight rebounds, but seven of them came in the third quarter, which ended with a 90-84 Laker lead.

Five consecutive points by Abdul-Jabbar brought the Lakers within two at 74-72. And when the Rockets started missing their shots, Rambis was there to collect the rebounds. Three of them came in succession, when the Lakers were busy building that 90-84 lead.

Not even 32 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists by Sampson, or 29 points and 13 rebounds from Akeem Olajuwon, his Twin Tower, could prevent the Lakers from winning this one.

“You can’t let down anytime against that team and expect to win,” Sampson said. “We had a letdown after the first quarter.”

But the Rockets sure had fun in that quarter, even if it didn’t last long enough for them. They made 20 of 30 shots, many from the perimeter, and scored on 17 of 20 possessions during one stretch.

“You can’t be perfect forever,” said Abdul-Jabbar, who insisted as he always does that he felt no special motivation going against either Olajuwon or Sampson, who may be the heir apparent to his throne.

“I don’t prepare any special way for any center in the league,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “I play the only way I know how.”

That way was certainly good enough. Abdul-Jabbar started slowly, but he finished fast. He scored 27 of his 35 points the final three quarters. Midway through the fourth quarter, when the Rockets were still threatening, Abdul-Jabbar twice came up with important baskets.

Eight quick points by Sampson cut the Laker lead to 98-94, but Abdul-Jabbar scored on a baseline drive after a spin move by Sampson and came back with a hook. A pair of inside baskets by Magic Johnson, who also had 14 assists, preceded a rebound basket by Abdul-Jabbar that put the game away, 112-102, with just over four minutes left.

And so it went for the Lakers, who were badly out-rebounded early, but still finished with a 49-48 advantage on the backboards where their two newcomers, Maurice Lucas and A.C. Green, led them with nine apiece.

There were other factors as well, notably the Laker depth, which was shown by Michael Cooper’s 13 points, the majority of them scored after he decided to play without the face mask he has worn to protect his broken nose.

“When I was wearing it, all I was thinking was, ‘Please don’t hit my nose,’ but after I took it off, I forgot about all about my nose,” Cooper said.

Meanwhile, the Rockets’ apparent lack of depth seemed as plain as the nose on Fitch’s face. Three Rocket starters played at least 40 minutes, led by Sampson with 47, and the Lakers did not begin to make their move until Fitch went to his bench in the second quarter.

Robert Reid had 8 points and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes, but the five other Rocket non-starters played a total of only 26 minutes.

That doesn’t take anything away from the way the Rockets started the game. Byron Scott, who scored 26 points, said the Lakers were clearly off at the beginning.

“We came out very sluggish, but they are a very good team,” he said.

Good enough to beat the Lakers? Sampson thinks so.

“We’ll beat them in June,” he said.

At least the Rockets proved they’re a quarter of the way there.

Laker Notes Magic Johnson twisted his neck slightly, but it wasn’t believed to be serious. . . . Larry Spriggs, who has had a tough time getting into games lately, did not play for the fifth consecutive time. Spriggs started 32 games last season, but so far this season, he has appeared in only nine games. . . . Unless something unexpected happens, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will tie John Havlicek for No. 2 on the NBA’s all-time list for games played when the Lakers meet the Phoenix Suns next Thursday night at the Forum. Havlicek played in 1,270 games. Elvin Hayes is No. 1 with 1,303 games.