European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 16, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 22 the stars and stripes thursday june 16,198b Thomas sore but lakers wince b Hallock Pontiac Mich. Apr the Little Man came up the court dribbling As if by memory never bothering to look Down Hiah Thomas does not have to look. He knows the fee of the basketball and the geography of the court by heart. His Vej darted left and then right like a cil trapped in an Alley looking for a Way Oul. Positioned in front of him was magic Johnson of the los an Geles , perhaps inc Best Basket Ball player in the Western world Thomas looked at Johnson for a split second his brain racing. Then he did a stutter step right out of inc Chi Cago playgrounds where he Learned this game and went right around or. Magic. Johnson responded with a Dou ble take that would have made Jack Denny proud. The Little Man was supposed to have a bad Back. He had missed Detroit afternoon shoot around before tues Day s fourth game of he Aba playoffs. And the pc game reports made it sound like he d be in a wheelchair. But Here he was dashing Down the court like a thoroughbred. What was going on Here just a bit of Piston magic by the Man with inc biblical name a sign in the steamy super dome proclaimed Josiah is maybe not. But tic la do for Detroit. With Johnson Oul of the Way. Thom As closed in on the foul Circle. This was serious time. Would the Ball go left Toad Ian Dantly or right to James Edwards Bolh driving to the Basket Only Isiah knew for sure and he was t telling until the last second. Finally the Little Man chose Dante Cyan fed him the pass producing two Points for the pistons. It was one of dozen assists Thomas accumulated in Detroit s series tying 111-b6 Romp. Bad Back huh yeah bad for the Lake played 36 minutes contrib uting 10 Points and nine rebounds. One More Board and he would have Islah Thomas smiles through i could t jump or shoot. All i could do was shout set shots had a triple double the Aba s ultimate measurement of a player s contributions. Now before you begin thinking this Guy is some kind of Superman Lake Thomas word thai he is merely mor Tal. His Back was sore. He was hurting even if it did t look that Way. "1 could t jump and shoot he said. All i could do was shoot set so the pistons had to Settle for his 16-footer to Start the third Quarter and his three Pointer to end it. The two baskets punctuated inc period in which Detroit scaled this Victory. By the time the fourth Quarter rolled around Johnson a mild mannered Man was perturbed enough la Lake a uncharacteristic Shol at Thomas who is an old l Johnson have any compas Sion for the Little Man with the bad Back no More than Thomas did when he danced past the map e matter if it s Isiah or the 12th Man on the team i m going to Check him Johnson said. My Elbow s sup posed to be there and he ran into Isiah was not disturbed by this bit of nastiness. He figured Johnson was just doing his Job. He made the statement that if i came through the Lane he islam me Thomas said i came through the Lane and he slammed the pistons were not amused though. This learn that often play with a Chip on its shoulder exchanged some ugly looking glares with the Lak ers. They protect the Little Man As Well they , however was in a forgiving mood. It was just he said. He s a Laker. I m a Piston. We Reboth playing for the world Champi May explain Why his Back did t Hurt during the game. "1 knew i would l be 100 percent he said. But i wanted to get out there. My presence was All we needed. It gave Usa threat. It made them conscious of me and left others open because they were dramatic performance was reminiscent of the 1970 Aba final when new York s Willis Reed hampered by a sore hip limped Oul to hit his first two Shols in the seventh game. It was a Cameo appearance put i provided an emotional lift that carried the kicks to the victims that night Why it was the trusty lakers who seem to have Knack for inspiring thai storybook Hollywood stuff in their opponents. Magic from Page 17 Quarter. When magic got his fourth foul which put him Oul of the game that makes your Job a Little easier Daly said he s such a great player. But we know Hal they re going to be Baek Daly was asked if the pistons had any plan to take care of magic Johnson. Just work baby Daly said. Just work. All you can do is work and with 7 03.remaining in the fourth Quarter magic picked up his fifth foul when he slammed an Elbow into the face of Liliah Thomas his Best Friend off the court. Thomas said the Friendship would sur Vive the incident. He made the statement before it started that if i was coming through the Lane he would slam me Thomas came through and he slammed me. Hey it s not personal. It s business. His main purpose is to win the championship All during the playoffs the pistons have bounced Back after losing a game at Home where they now Are 8-3. After dropping a 105-9s decision in game 2 against Chicago in the Eastern conference semifinals the pistons responded with three straight wins to eliminate the bulls. After a 79-7s loss in game 4 to Boston the pistons responded with two straight victories to eliminate inc seems like every Lime we have our backs to the Wall we seem to respond Thomas said. But Damn i wish we would t always put our backs to the lakers who have lost five of their last six Road games Drew the ire of coach Pat Riley i m not going to cry Riley said. We did l deserve Riley said he did t think the lakers were ready to play. But he said the Pis tons had a lot to do with defense was a lot More rugged and aggressive Riley said. Our Guys knew what was at stake. It was t be cause we weren t ready or prepared. De troit came up with a big game with a big time Effort. They came 5 is going to be another big Lime game. It s going to be a he Vlacious fifth game will be played thurs Day night in the Silver Dame. The series then will conclude in California. If we re going Back to their building we Don t want to have to win two game sin their building Detroit s Bill Laim Beer said. Thai would be very difficult. I expect them to come out and play very hard thursday very physical to get beat by 20-some Odd Points they re not going to like that very Well. They re going to push it right at us top Speed. Rodman who was assigned to guard magic Johnson while he was in the game said Johnson would probably push it up a notch s going to come out with fire in his eyes Rodman said. He s going to try to Posl up our guards and try Touse us. Bui we be got logo Oul and re Spond to that Surprise finals present another must win game scoreboard . Lakers at de troit an radio and to 3 . Friday. A must win situation for the pistons with games 6 and 7 scheduled for the forum. History May be on Detroit s Side As inc Winner of game 4 has gone on to claim the Aba title 27 times in the pre Vious 41 championship series while inc Home team in the fifth game of series tied 2-2 has won it All 13 of 17 limes. Many of those series however were played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format instead of this year s 2-3-2 arrangement. Passing fancy Detroit s Isiah Thomas handed off 12 assists tuesday night one More than the entire los an finals notes Giles Cam accounted for. Swings the pistons Attim plod 46 free throws tuesday night in their Iii 86 Victory in game 4. On tuesday when Detroit lost 99-86, it attempted 12 free throws. Bench Marks los Angeles Bench has been outscored 136-39 and is shooting a combined 10-for-50 from the Field a .200 Porcen Lac. Key lakers re serves Michael Cooper and Mychal Thompson have gone 3-for-2s and 5-for 18 from the floor respectively a combined. 186 percentage. Barkley predicts Trade Pontiac Mich. A Phila Delphia 76cre Forward Charles bark Ley said tuesday night that he expects to be traded during he off season according to a broadcast report. Barkley interviewed at court Side of game 4 of the Aba championships by lbs correspondent Pat o Brien said i Don t think i will lie in Phila Delphia next year. I think i will be traded before the season starts. They want me to be an All american boy. I Don t think i can be Barkley averaged 28,3 Points and 11.9 rebounds per game this season to rank fourth and sixth in the Aba in those categories. He made 58.7 per cent of his Field goal attempts third Best in the league and played nearly 40 minutes per game
