Lakers Repeat as Champions in Tight Game

The Los Angeles Lakers, repulsing a spirited Detroit Pistons comeback, became the National Basketball Assn.’s first repeat champions in 19 years Tuesday night.

The Lakers took a 15-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, then held on for a 108-105 victory over the Pistons in Game 7 of the best-of-seven championship series before a sellout crowd of 17,505 at The Forum.

James Worthy, the series’ most valuable player, scored 36 points and had 16 rebounds and 10 assists.

Just as Coach Pat Riley guaranteed they would a year ago, minutes after his team had defeated the Boston Celtics, the Lakers became the first team to win back-to-back titles since the Celtics in 1969.

Third Title

Asked if he would guarantee a third title, Riley was about to answer when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stuffed a towel in the coach’s mouth.

Finally, Riley said, “I’ll guarantee that we’ll enjoy this all summer. It took 115 games to get this job done. They worked for it. They deserve the credit.”

With the crowd screaming, “Repeat, repeat,” during every timeout, Byron Scott made two free throws to make it 105-100 with 30 seconds left. The Lakers missed three of their next four free throws, however, and the Pistons trailed by only 106-105 after Bill Laimbeer made a three-point shot with six seconds remaining.

But A.C. Green broke for the basket and clinched it with a layup with two seconds on the clock.

The city will honor the Lakers today with a parade downtown at 11 a.m. and a ceremony at City Hall.

The parade will start on Broadway, between 9th Street and Olympic Boulevard, and will travel north on Broadway, turn east on 1st Street and north on Main Street. After the parade, the team will be honored at a ceremony on the City Hall steps.

The Laker franchise has won 11 titles, the last six in Los Angeles and the first five in Minneapolis from 1949-54.

But it was the first time since moving to California in 1960 that the Lakers won a title with a victory in a seventh game. They lost five championship series that went the seven-game limit, four to the Celtics and once to the New York Knicks.

The Lakers also became the first team to win three seven-game series in one year. They beat both the Utah Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks, four games to three, in the Western Conference playoffs.

“This was the hardest championship we’ve ever won,” said Magic Johnson, who had 19 points for the Lakers.

Scott scored 12 of his 21 points during the Lakers’ 23-7 rally in the third period. The Lakers led, 94-79, with 7:24 left before the Pistons rallied.

Joe Dumars had 25 points for the Pistons.

Isiah Thomas, despite a badly sprained ankle, played 19 minutes and scored 10 points in the first half, including consecutive jumpers in the final 27 seconds of the second quarter. Those shots gave Detroit the halftime lead.

But Thomas did not score in the second half and saw only spot duty in the final minutes.

Related stories in Sports.