Lakers Face Nelson, Not the Admiral : NBA playoffs: Golden State coach used his little people to eliminate San Antonio, but he says Warriors must be ‘better than perfect’ to win this series.

Having dispatched “the team nobody wanted to meet in the playoffs” faster than you can say “overrated,” the Lakers suddenly find themselves facing the coach nobody wants to meet anywhere.

He is Don Nelson, whose merry little band of Golden State Warriors bagged the unsuspecting San Antonio Spurs in four games and seek bigger game starting this afternoon at 5 in the Forum.

A heavy underdog with a team that went 19-21 after Feb. 1, Nelson benched Alton Lister and used the “point center” to lure David Robinson into nowhere-land. He scrapped his usual three-guard lineup for one with four guards, adding Mario Elie, a CBA veteran whom the Lakers cut in training camp.

One can only imagine what Nelson has in store for the Lakers, who have had four days of rest since sweeping the Houston Rockets.

“I’ll let you know at game time,” he said Saturday.

Fourteen hours after terminating the Spurs, Nelson was standing at half-court in the Forum, noting the absence of preparation time, wondering how to bring his squad off its emotional high, worrying about Chris Mullin’s sore knee but most of all about the Lakers.

You remember how amazingly his team just played?

“It probably won’t be good enough,” Nelson said. “We probably have to play better.

“The Lakers are a different team, there’s no doubt. The Lakers are a better team. They know exactly who they are, where they want to go and how they want to get there. They’ve been there before, so they know the pitfalls. We’ll have to be better than perfect.”

Better than perfect?

“That’s my story,” Nelson said, laughing, “and I’m sticking to it.”

To a man, the Lakers claim they weren’t surprised at the upset of the Spurs and understand the Warrior challenge.

“Effort-wise, Golden State seemed like the team that was playing a little harder,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said.

“They continually beat the Spurs up and down the floor. They didn’t turn the ball over as much in key times. Their heads seemed to be more into it.

“If we let them out-effort us, we’re going to be in for a long series. We might have to pack up our bags and go home for the summer.”

Said Mychal Thompson: “People say, ‘Aw, the Lakers, four straight.’ But it’s not going to be that easy. I’m very nervous about this series.”

Said James Worthy: “They’re a dangerous ballclub. Ever since they swept Utah (in the first round in 1989), you never put anything past them. They play a lot bigger than what that lineup is.”

BACKGROUND

If there was a grudge quality to the Nelson-Larry Brown encounter, stemming from the San Antonio coach’s charge that Nelson “campaigned” for the Olympic coaching job, this is just the opposite.

Nelson was Dunleavy’s mentor, luring him back from Wall Street to become an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks. There is even a story that Nelson intended to groom Dunleavy to take over the Warriors but Jerry West needed a coach first.

“Do I know his mind?” Dunleavy said, grinning. “Nobody knows his mind. He doesn’t even know his own mind.

“I don’t think ultimately he knows what he’s going to do until he does it. Then he’ll try something different, just to be different.”

MATCHUPS

People tend to regard these as one-way, but if Nelson has proved anything, it’s that one-on-one encounters are up for grabs.

Big players have as much trouble guarding smaller, quicker players as vice versa, so it’s a matter of who does what to whom.

The Laker advantage is size.

They have a great post-up game that troubles normal-sized teams and has been death on the small Warriors. Sam Perkins had his top career games (45, 32) against the Warriors when he was in Dallas and scored 28 in his first trip to Oakland as a Laker. Worthy eats up small foes. Magic Johnson takes his mismatch into the low post, either to draw the double-team and pass, or if it doesn’t come, to go to the basket.

To make the most of his tall defenders this season, Nelson, ever imaginative, played 6-5 Mitch Richmond on 7-foot Vlade Divac and got away with it.

You wouldn’t think the Warriors would use a four-guard lineup against the Laker three-headed post-up monster, but this is Nelson, so you never know.

The Warrior advantage is mobility and shooting ability.

They spread the floor for their three aces, Mullin, Richmond and Tim Hardaway, who averaged 26, 24 and 23, respectively, making them the second-highest scoring trio in NBA history. Hardaway, the point guard, is the least famous but is already threatening to crash the big three at his position--Johnson, John Stockton and Kevin Johnson. In the three Warrior victories over San Antonio, Hardaway outscored Rod Strickland, 74-45.

In the nick of time, a fourth musketeer surfaced, Sarunas Marciulionis, once the Soviet point guard who brought a passer’s mentality to the United States until Nelson badgered it out of him. Marciulionis opened fire on the Spurs, increasing his 11-point regular-season average to 17.

In the Houston series, the Lakers were up against long-range bombers with 40% averages. The Warriors are something else: Mullin shot 54%, Marciulionis 50%, Richmond 49% and Hardaway 48% (including 38% on three-pointers).

On one hand, a good, little team has to keep shooting the lights out to beat a good, big team.

On the other hand, if you want to know who has caught fire in the playoffs, try the Warriors.

The Lakers are doing OK, too.

Soon, one of them won’t be as hot or as happy.

Laker Notes

The Lakers won the season series, 3-2, going 2-0 in the Forum, 1-2 in Oakland. . . . The Warriors are 0-10 in playoff games in the Forum since their last victory, March, 28, 1969, when they were in San Francisco. . . . The Lakers have won the past six meetings at the Forum and 14 of 15. . . . In 1989, after the Warriors upended Utah, 3-0, in the first round, the Phoenix Suns eliminated them in five games, assaulting Don Nelson’s small lineup on the offensive boards. . . . Chris Mullin sprained his right knee in Friday’s game on a hard foul by David Wingate. He practiced lightly Saturday but hopes to play. . . . Vlade Divac practiced lightly Saturday with a splint on his sprained left wrist but is expected to play, without the splint.