Advertisement

Finale Is Showtime for Divac : Lakers: He covers the spectrum of moves to spark a 103-100 victory over the SuperSonics as regular season ends.

Share via
TIMES STAFF WRITER

With the lights going out in the regular season, the Lakers left Vlade Divac to visit the full array of his game upon the unsuspecting Seattle SuperSonics Sunday night.

To the delight of the Forum crowd, Divac brought the ball up on the fast break, rang up a career-high six assists and led the Lakers in a fourth-period rally that carried them past the SuperSonics, 103-100.

Divac, the only regular on a unit with Larry Drew, Terry Teagle, Elden Campbell and Irving Thomas, amused the regulars on the bench with sequences such as the one in which he blocked Benoit Benjamin’s shot, dribbled the length of the court, looked right and flipped the ball to the left to Drew for a layup.

Advertisement

“That’s all we want him to do,” said Magic Johnson later, “stay that aggressive.”

The Lakers thus finish 58-24 under rookie Coach Mike Dunleavy. They will open the playoffs here Thursday night at the Forum against Houston.

This game was what might have been expected, given its meaningless nature.

The Lakers were lackadaisical, falling behind by 11 points early.

They cut the deficit to 73-69 starting the fourth quarter, when Dunleavy emptied his bench. But Divac rallied the reserves, making a three-pointer at one point and taking a charge on Ricky Pierce at another to send the fans home laughing.

“A three-pointer, a no-look pass, taking the charge. That’s the full spectrum for a basketball player,” Dunleavy said.

Advertisement

That’s the full spectrum for this regular season, too.

By the look of things, the end came in the nick of time.

Laker Notes

Utah’s loss at Golden State and San Antonio’s victory over Dallas filled out the rest of the Lakers’ bracket. The Laker-Houston winner will meet the San Antonio-Golden State winner. . . . If the Lakers advance, they will have the home court advantage again in the next round because of their better record.

Is Larry Drew the frontrunner at the Laker backup point guard spot? Coach Mike Dunleavy isn’t saying, but brought Drew in ahead of Tony Smith Sunday. . . . Dunleavy on Houston, which finished 3-5 after a torrid February and March: “I won’t know until I see them play us.”

Sam Perkins has flu and didn’t play. Sean Kemp stayed in Seattle because of a shin injury and Coach K.C. Jones started Michael Cage in place of Benoit Benjamin. . . . Benjamin, returning to Los Angeles for the first time since he made obscene gestures to a Sports Arena crowd, was booed. He played 30 minutes, scored 11 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. . . . Irving Thomas, last man off the Laker bench, played the whole fourth quarter and scored a career-high nine points.

Advertisement

Magic Johnson’s 989 assists this season were a career high and a Laker record. . . . Johnson on the playoffs: “We’re ready to go. It’s that time of year.” Said Jones: “This game meant nothing to us . . . it was stinky-poo from the start. We weren’t blown out. That’s the important thing.”

* PLAYOFF BRACKETS: C17

Advertisement