Abdul-Jabbar Decks Knicks With Skyhooks

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stood far from the madding crowd Friday night, when the Lakers wound up in the kind of bench-clearing brawl usually staged by their co-tenants at the Forum, hockey’s Kings.

But while Abdul-Jabbar threw no punches in a fight that resulted in three players being ejected--A.C. Green and Michael Cooper of the Lakers and Pat Cummings of the Knicks--with 9:26 left in the fourth quarter, the Laker center delivered the telling punch line in the Lakers’ 113-112 win over New York.

Abdul-Jabbar connected with six straight haymakers--a.k.a. skyhooks--after order was restored, wiping out the 90-87 advantage the Knicks held at the time the combatants were sent to their respective dressing rooms.

“He got it going,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said. “While everybody else was losing their cool, he was the one man keeping his.

“When things break loose like that, there’s a fury that’s got to be controlled,” Riley added. “That’s when his 20 years of experience showed.”

There have been plenty of nights this season when Abdul-Jabbar’s 40-year-old body has revealed itself in less flattering ways. But Friday night, he gave a 24-point lesson that was not lost on Knick center Patrick Ewing.

“I know Kareem, and you guys know him,” Ewing said. “He’s not washed up like a lot of people seem to think he is. He’s still a great scorer, and I think he proved that tonight. I forced him out of position, and he still hit the shots. You don’t do anything about that.”

Abdul-Jabbar said there wasn’t much he could do about the fight, either, which began when Cummings and Green got tangled up underneath the basket after a shot by New York’s Johnny Newman.

“I couldn’t do anything during the fight,” said Abdul-Jabbar, who kept his distance while both benches emptied and the brawl spilled into the courtside seats, tipping over the chair of one middle-aged man who was treated afterward for an apparent leg injury.

“So I did what I had to do after the fight. I just went out there and played hard.”

New York Coach Rick Pitino said the brawl might have been avoided if Cooper hadn’t interceded and put himself between Cummings and Green.

“Normally when just two people square off,” Pitino said, “80 or 90% of the time they don’t fight.

“But you don’t do that in basketball, you do that in hockey--third man in. You could end a career that way. You don’t do that, swinging from nowhere. That’s a cowardly act.

If anyone appeared to be in jeopardy during the fight, it was the 175-pound Cooper, who wound up beneath the 6-foot 9-inch, 240-pound Cummings while ushers, Riley and other players tried to pry the players apart.

“A lightweight Mike Tyson,” Byron Scott shouted at Cooper in the Laker dressing room.

Cooper, who took a swing at Cummings after the Knick forward had delivered an open-handed slap to Green’s face, was ejected for a punching foul, while the other combatants were tossed for fighting.

“I was just protecting my man,” Cooper said. “I expect to get fined a healthy sum, so I guess my kids won’t be getting any toys for a while.”

Cooper’s eyebrows raised when he was told that Pitino had called his actions cowardly.

“That’s his opinion,” he said with a small smile.

Riley, however, made it abundantly clear he didn’t think much of Pitino’s judgment of the matter.

“Third man in?” Riley said. “That’s protecting his player. A.C. got tangled up with Pat Cummings and sort of threw him off him. Then Cummings smashed him in the back with his forearm. That’s a cowardly act, to hit him in the back.

“That’s when all hell broke loose.”

Green and Cummings had been doing some heavy-duty body-bumping throughout the game, including the previous possession at the Laker end of the court, when Cummings flung the Laker forward out of his way.

“All I remember for sure is that after he (Cummings) went past me, he came back at me,” Green said. “That’s when everything started happening.”

Cummings, whose jersey was torn in the fight, didn’t appreciate Cooper’s involvement.

“Cooper had no business being there,” said Cummings, who was eventually separated from Cooper by Billy Thompson, the Lakers’ injured forward.

The intensity was all one way at the outset of the game, when the Knicks--who have won just once in 18 games on the road--bolted to a 12-0 lead.

The Lakers missed their first 10 shots while succumbing to New York’s full-court pressure, which resulted in 13 steals by the end of the night. Knick rookie guard Mark Jackson played a full 48 minutes, handed out 16 assists and made 3 steals.

“That press they use is like the (UCLA) Bruin press of 20 years ago,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “You couldn’t get the ball across half-court.”

Once their heads were back into the game, the Lakers climbed back into contention with a 19-2 run, fueled by nine second-quarter points by Mychal Thompson. The Lakers led at halftime, 56-54, but the Knicks didn’t buckle--at least, not until after the fight.

That’s when they took it on the chin from Abdul-Jabbar. The Lakers ran off seven straight points to make it 94-90, and after the Laker captain made his sixth straight hook to make it 107-101, he thrust his right fist into the air.

James Worthy made one of two free throws--the Lakers made 35 of 42 for the night--to make it 113-109, and Rick Carlisle’s three-pointer with a second left accounted for the final margin.

“When Kareem wants to dominate, he still can dominate,” said Magic Johnson, who had 19 points and 8 assists. “Also, he’s from New York, and he’s not going to look bad for the people back home.”

Even if the people back home didn’t get to see him fight.