NBA CHAMPIONSHIP : LAKERS VS. CELTICS : Lakers Ready to Mix It Up With an Old Foe : For the Ninth Time, Boston Will Meet L.A. for the Title

By CHRIS BAKER

May 31, 1987 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

SANTA BARBARA — Here we go again.

For the third time in the 1980s, the Lakers will play the Boston Celtics for the National Basketball Assn. championship, starting Tuesday night at the Forum.

“We know when D-day is,” said Laker center-forward Mychal Thompson. “D-day is Tuesday, when we go to war.”

The Lakers, who are holding a three-day minicamp here to prepare for the NBA finals, gathered in a hotel banquet room to watch the seventh game of the Eastern Conference finals between Boston and the Detroit Pistons on TV.

“We watched it. Oh yeah, Boston won, right?” Thompson said with a laugh. “Wrestling was on another channel. I wanted to watch it, but (Coach) Pat (Riley) had the remote control in his hands.

“We had a chance to rest today and watch two other teams kill each other. But we know our turn is coming. Basketball just keeps getting more physical. I think Mike Tyson and Hulk Hogan will be the first two picks in the draft this year.”

After seeing Boston advance to the NBA finals with a 117-114 win over the Pistons, the Lakers boarded hotel vans and headed for a closed practice at Santa Barbara City College.

“I’m happy it’s Boston. I think the basketball world wanted to see this confrontation,” said Laker broadcaster Chick Hearn, who has called the eight previous Laker-Boston championship series dating back to 1962. “Now we can find out if this is the best Laker team ever.”

Said Riley: “I wasn’t surprised that Boston won. I felt they worked all year for the home-court advantage and that’s what paid off. They won it because they played in the Boston Garden. Detroit showed tremendous character. Losing Adrian Dantley probably hurt them. But overall Boston showed enough resiliency and character to pull this thing off.

“It’s going to be a great series. The Celtics won a title last year and a lot of people didn’t even pick them to get out of the East, and a lot of people didn’t pick us to be here at the beginning of the season.

“Hey, let’s get on with it,” Riley continued. “It (a Celtic-Laker series) is what people want. It’s supposed to be the magical matchup. The fans are probably happy, and the press is probably happy.”

Said Laker guard Michael Cooper: “I think we wanted to play the best team, and Boston showed that they were the best team in the East.

“I’m sure if everybody had their preference, they would love to play the defending NBA champion, and we got our (wish).”

Said forward James Worthy: “I didn’t have a preference, but since it’s them (the Celtics), it’s nothing new. It’s not like nobody knows what to expect.”

After being in limbo since they beat the Seattle SuperSonics to wrap up the Western Conference title last Monday, the Lakers are anxious to get back to work.

“We’ll be ready,” Laker guard Magic Johnson said. “Of course you get antsy, but we just have a couple more days of practice and it will be game day. We put ourselves in a position to rest, which is good. I don’t want to trade with anybody.

“I feel the series will be the best against the best. Boston has been doing it for so long, even before we got here. So it’s a special feeling. The rivalry is great.”

Magic said the Pistons lost the game when they lost Dantley with a concussion at the end of the third period.

“It was anybody’s game until Adrian got hurt,” Johnson said. “He (Dantley) was hot and he was causing double-team problems, and that’s why (Joe) Dumars was as effective as he was. So when they lost him, Boston didn’t have to double team anybody, and that puts a lot of pressure on you.

“I thought Boston would win it after Adrian went out. Detroit was playing awfully well up until that time. But when it comes down to the last couple minutes, you know Boston’s going to win and they did execute to win the game at the end. I’m going to call Isiah (Thomas) later on.”

Although much has been made of the Celtic injuries, Magic said the Lakers don’t think that Boston’s injuries will be a factor in the series.

“There is no question, injuries and things can be an excuse. But if you look at that, you’re going to only hurt yourself,” Johnson said. “Because you look up and Robert (Parish) is playing. Everybody is going to play. There are no injuries for them, they’ll be ready Tuesday, and what we must do is not get caught up in that. This is championship time, nobody’s hurt.”

Said Riley: “They’re not banged up. They’re in the finals. They have some guys that are injured but you can’t worry about that. They have three days to rest, and I’m sure Parish and anybody else that has an ailment is going to be ready to roll on Tuesday.”

Said Worthy: “They’ve been banged up for the last several months and they’re still winning basketball games. We can’t go into it thinking we still have an edge because they’re banged up. We still have to win games.”

The Lakers swept their two-game regular-season series from Boston, but the Lakers don’t feel that will have any effect on the final.

“I think they’re thrown out the window,” Magic said of the regular-season games. “That was then, and this is now. You look and see what things you did right or wrong, but it really doesn’t help you for this series. It’s 0-0 now.”

Notes

The Lakers will practice here again today before breaking camp to return to Los Angeles. . . . Laker guard Wes Matthews missed practice to attend his grandmother’s funeral in Sarasota, Fla. He’s expected to rejoin the team Monday.