After 18 Years, a Streak Ends : Pro basketball: Sacramento beats Lakers, 124-114, for first victory at the Forum since 1974, a span of 45 games.

The times, they have a-changed.

With Magic Johnson watching from a baseline seat, the Lakers fell to the Sacramento Kings, who thus ended their Forum losing streak that predated Johnson’s days as a Laker, not to mention Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s.

The Kings hadn’t won here since Oct. 20, 1974, when they were the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, but Sunday night they blitzed the Lakers, 124-114, ending a streak of 45 losses.

“Hey,� said Dave Wohl, King assistant coach, “the Roman Empire ended, too.�

What remains of the Laker Empire was put to the torch. Mitch Richmond scored 29 points, Wayman Tisdale 25 and the Kings shot 55.7%.

“We gave them (outside) shots we’d rather have had them take than layups,� said James Worthy, the game’s high scorer with 30 points, “but they got a little too many of both kinds.�

Laker Coach Randy Pfund saw his record drop to 1-1, but the new King coach, Garry St. Jean, zoomed to an unexpected 2-0. The Kings hadn’t opened a season 2-0 in 10 years.

“Hey, the Lakers played well,� said an exuberant St. Jean. “Sometimes you can get one in the other team’s home opener. We just had one of those nights.�

The Kings started the night in a fatalistic mood about their losing streak--as well they might be. Only one, Wayman Tisdale, had been on the team for more than two years of it.

Tisdale, at 3 1/2 seasons, is the senior King, but this streak predates his entire pro career, not to mention his college and high school careers.

“I was in fourth grade,� Tisdale said before the game. “Tulsa, Okla. Goofing off in class.

“I remember we had an opportunity to win here two-three years ago. A couple of missed free throws. A couple of missed shots. Magic (Johnson) was playing then, and he brought them back at the end.

“We’re going to try not to talk about it. Just go out and play hard and let the chips fall where they may. The last 12, 14, 15, 18 years, they’ve been falling where they may--all on one side.�

As in days of yore, the Lakers jumped to a 6-0 lead.

Ending the nostalgia, the Kings counter-attacked for the rest of the half.

Tisdale sank five of his six shots in the first quarter as the Kings moved into a 31-26 lead.

Rookie Walt Williams scored nine fast points in the second and Sacramento sprinted out. When Mitch Richmond knocked in an 18-footer in the final seconds of the half, the Kings had 65 points and a 10-point lead.

If there was a defensive answer, the Lakers didn’t have it.

With 4:05 to play in the third period, Jim Les’ three-pointer moved the Kings up, 86-72. The Lakers pared it to 86-78, but Sacramento closed the quarter with a 9-2 run to take a 95-80 lead.

After that, it was just a matter of running out the clock. The Lakers never got closer than seven points.

“I was wondering,� St. Jean said. “I couldn’t figure out if the clock was moving. That was a long eight minutes.�

Late Sunday night, Worthy was asked if the Lakers had been complacent.

“I think we’re aware we can’t do that,� he said. “Five, six years ago, I would have said yes. But not this team.�

Laker Notes

Rookie Walt Williams, the Kings’ 6-foot-8 swing man, didn’t sign until the last week of the exhibition season but scored 11 points in a 99-second span of the opener against San Antonio. Sunday he had 17 points, five rebounds and two assists in 27 minutes. Coach Garry St. Jean has used him at times to guard David Robinson and Vlade Divac and at other times as his point guard. . . . “He’s a unique talent,� said Randy Pfund, once the leading candidate for the Kings’ job. “I’m not sure what he is, but he’s got good size and he looks like he handles the ball very well. He was the No. 6 pick in the draft. Year after year, when you have those top picks, you’re going to show some improvement.� . . . The Kings had lost their last 43 regular-games here, plus two playoff games. . . . Pfund gave rookie Anthony Peeler a first-half look as the backup point guard, as well as the backup shooting guard. But when it came time to rest Sedale Threatt in the second half, Pfund went to Duane Cooper.