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Show by Jim Murray Mnmrpay mi ponit His expression says, 'Call me trustworthy7 The trouble with James Worthy is, he has this nice face. I don't know why but I like people with bags under their eyes. Like, I like guys who smoke cigars, guys who wear hats. If he's got dark circles under his eyes, so much the better. Trust him with your life. That's the thing about Worthy. He looks trustworthy. Maybe that's where the family name originally came from. He looks sort of sad. Also worried. Now people who look worried, mankind . tends to trust implicitly. A guy who's about to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge or a lot with . water on it can't afford to look worried. He's got to ooze confidence. But James W orthy, he looks like it's safe to take your eyes off him for a minute. He looks like he's got troubles enough without messing with you. He looks like the kind of guy you could let watch your wallet while you took a shower. The kind of guy you'd sit next to on a boat without worrying he'll pull out a deck of cards. A banker would loan him money without a qualm on a handshake. His expression says he's the salt of the earth. There are lots of guys in the NBA don't inspire this kind of open-end reliance. You take Darryl Dawkins. Take your eyes off this guy and he's going to break a backboard on you. Put your faith in Magic Johnson on the floor and he's going to take a basketball out of your ear. But Worthy seems to be saying "Trust me." He'd make a great spy. Also, used-car salesman. It's almost unfair to have him and Jamaal Wilkes on the same team, the Lakers. Either er KrtfVi rf (horn nmilH rlar tYia Hurler in 9 When James Worthy gets all those points and demoralizes a defense as he's been doing against the Boston Celtics, he should at least stop looking as if he just heard that Lincoln got shot. On the other hand, maybe Worthy's face knows something about the fickleness of fate the rest of us don't. You take Game Two in Boston. With 15 seconds to play and the Lakers having a one-point lead in the championship playoff, Worthy suddenly had less reason to smile than the general who lost Paris. . He threw what could best be described as a changeup to a teammate halfway across the floor. All the Lakers had to do was get that ball across midcourt and the game and maybe the season was over. The Celtics made what you might say was a goal-line interception. For the first time that night, James Worthy was entitled to look stricken. The Celts went on to win that game and the rest of the Lakers probably saw fit to look sad clear until the flight home left Logan Airport. Worthy's torment not only lasted all the way home but well into the weekend. "I sat home (in LA.) and thought about it for two days," he recalled. I couldn't wait to get back to practice, back on the floor. All I could think of was, we'd now be 2-and-0 if I got something on that pass, if I saw (the interceptor) Henderson." Worthy's psyche had caught up with his face. But the next game the Lakers broke records with a fast break that looked like a murder mystery. They'd be the last guys you'd figure for foul play. Worthy's stock in trade is not being noticed. And this is where that worried look comes in. For the other team, it's like getting run over by a baby carriage. Killed by a doctor. They can't believe that a guy who looks as if he's got the Middle East or the mortgage on his mind can be doing all that damage to them. He looks as if it's hurting him worse than it is them. As if he wouldn't be doing it if it weren't for their own good. First of all, he never gloats. He never waves his arm in the air when he stuffs one. He doesn't make an in-your-face stuff. He looks like a guy who has just done something that's going to make him not able to sleep well tonight, something his expression says he basically hates to do. You picture the other guys saying: "Worthy? Naw! He wouldn't stuff it right over you. Too nice a guy. Why, he wouldn't be able to look at himself in the mirror!" All of which should probably make James ashamed of what he's been doing to the Boston Celtics this series. It's like a lion wearing a three-piece suit, a bank robber in a Roman collar. busted crap game. And there was Worthy,; trying to look as if he just came to pick up the towels, suddenly leading the gangbuster Lakers' cavalary charge. There were no soft lob passes. There was just the usual Worthy game in which the more he scored, the sadder he looked. Nor was there any crowing. "Don't you consider yourself the one the opposition has to key on, the one they have to shut down if they want to win?" he was asked. Worthy recoiled in horror. "Oh, no, I'm not going to accept that!" he protested. "It's hard to find myself being a big contributor to this team, a team that has Magic Johnson and Kareem Jabbar and McAdoo and Wilkes!" It was a last-ditch try to cover up his image. But, one of the Celtics who isn't fooled was the wise old general manager, Red Auerbach. "He's a great player. He makes their fast break work as well as anybody on that team. He makes their transition game work. He's got these great legs and you have to watch him at all times." For some players, such praise would turn their heads. But it probably only sent James Worthy into deeper gloom. For him it will just mean that he's blown his cover. (c) 1984, Los Angeles Times |