Lakers Run to Record With 49-Point Quarter to Beat Golden State

A sellout crowd of 17,505 arose as one at the end of the third quarter Tuesday night at the Forum.

For Laker games in the playoffs, that has become as good a time as any to head for the exits, stifle a yawn or look for Dancing Barry.

But this time, even though the suspense had gone out of what would become a 125-116 Laker win over the Golden State Warriors, the crowd just stood and cheered. And they didn’t stop cheering until the horn sounded for the start of the fourth quarter.

For once, the traffic could wait. An audience accustomed to spectacle knew they had just witnessed something spectacular: A 49-point third-quarter explosion by the Lakers that transformed a seven-point halftime deficit into a 19-point lead.

The Lakers, who hadn’t played in six days, may have taken a half to find their legs, but hit on all cylinders to set an National Basketball Assn. playoff record for most points in a third quarter.

James Worthy scored 17 points in the third quarter, most on the front end of the Laker fast break. Worthy finished with 28 points to lead the Lakers.

Michael Cooper capped the quarter with four baskets, three straight from three-point range.

Magic Johnson had his first playoff triple-double this season: 25 points, 12 rebounds and 14 assists.

And Kareem Abdul-Jabbar limited Joe Barry Carroll to two points in the third quarter after the Golden State center had scored 20 in the first half.

The win gave the Lakers a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals. Game Two will be Thursday night in the Forum.

The Lakers shot 80.9% in the third quarter, making 17 of 21 shots.

“It’s probably as much as I’ve enjoyed watching a team that was kicking my butt,” said George Karl, Golden State coach.

“That was just beautiful basketball. And then Cooper made those ‘threes.’ I really don’t think we lost our composure. They were just running right by us.

“They must have gotten all the loose balls and long rebounds in the second half. When they get ‘em, they get points at the other end.”

Said Worthy: “We were just playing Laker basketball at its best. Limit ‘em to one shot, get the rebound and go .”

Byron Scott, who finished with 17 points, said the Lakers played “pretty much” a perfect quarter.

“It’s one of the best quarters I’ve ever seen us play. We just put a lot of pressure on them, which lead to a lot of easy baskets.”

In the Warriors’ series-clinching win at Utah on Sunday, Carroll had 24 points, 8 rebounds and a season-high 6 blocked shots.

“I’ll take what Joe Barry gave us in that first series,” Karl said of his much-maligned center--a No. 1 draft choice in 1980, the NBA’s rookie of the year in the ‘80-81 season and a 7-foot 1-inch mystery man who defected to Italy for a year when the Warriors didn’t meet his asking price.

Laker Coach Pat Riley, for one, believes Carroll has been a victim of a bad rap.

“I appreciate big players,” Riley said. “If they don’t want him, they can give him to me.

“He’s a heckuva player with a personality of his own, just like Kareem has his own personality and Akeem (Olajuwon) his.

“All big guys get judged too harshly and too quickly. People don’t let them be human beings. But judged as a player, he’s one of the best in the league.”

Carroll couldn’t have been much better than he was in the first half, when he made eight straight shots and scored 20 points as the Warriors built a 62-55 halftime lead.

Most of Carroll’s points came on his jumper, either a turn-around from the baseline or the square-up shots he tossed in from further outside. And it didn’t matter whether he was guarded by A.C. Green or Abdul-Jabbar.

Abdul-Jabbar answered with 10 points of his own in the first quarter, when the Lakers took a 30-29 lead.

But Golden State moved ahead, 50-43, when the Lakers committed turnovers on four straight possessions before Riley called time out with 4:33 left in the quarter.

The Warrior lead grew to eight, 57-49, when Sleepy Floyd--playing despite a heavily taped left hamstring, threw in a three-pointer.

The lead became nine, 62-53, when Larry Smith slipped behind Green for an alley-oop pass from Floyd, scored, and was fouled by Green.

Magic Johnson’s driving basket with four seconds left made it 62-55 at the break.

The Warriors outshot the Lakers, 57.8% to 48.9% in the half.

Magic Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar had 12 points apiece in the first half to lead the Lakers, but Johnson (4 of 10) and Scott (2 of 8) made just 6 of 18 shots. Scott missed all four of his three-point attempts.

The Lakers enjoyed a wide rebounding margin, 26-16. Johnson and Green had nine rebounds each.

Johnson had 5 assists, but he also had 5 turnovers.

But, the Lakers reversed things quickly, and decisively, in the third quarter.

Laker Notes Before the start of this season’s playoffs, four Lakers--Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper, Magic Johnson and Kurt Rambis--had appeared in more playoff games than the entire Golden State roster. Golden State players had 63 games of playoff experience, the Lakers 632. . . . If this series goes to a sixth game, the Warriors won’t be able to play on their home court. The Oakland Coliseum Arena has booked “Sesame Street Live,” which has forced a switch of Game 6 to the Cow Palace, the Warriors’ home until the 1971-72 season. When the Warriors won the NBA championship in 1975, they played some of their playoff games at the Cow Palace.