Riley May Team Jabbar With Sampson, Olajuwon

INDIANAPOLIS â€”  Western Conference Coach Pat Riley said Friday he might use 7-4 Ralph Sampson, 7-2 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and 7-0 Akeem Olajuwon on the same front line in the 35th National Basketball Assn. All-Star Game.

Riley, coach of the Lakers, said the huge trio might be more of an imposing threat than an effective combination in Sunday’s game.

“I might send the three of them to the scorer’s table just to see the look on K.C.’s face,� Riley said, referring to Eastern Conference Coach K.C. Jones of the Boston Celtics. “I feel the threat of using them might be more effective than actually using them. There’s only so much space out there. But it would be interesting and I might do it.�

The East, which has a 23-11 lead in the All-Star series, including five straight victories, the longest ever, has no player over 6-10.

Abdul-Jabbar at age 37 will be appearing in his 14th All-Star game, a record, while Olajuwon is a rookie and Sampson, his Houston Rockets’ teammate, is only a two- year veteran.

Riley also has a pair of above average-sized guards in the starting lineup in Earvin (Magic) Johnson of the Lakers and George Gervin of San Antonio, both 6-8.

The West starters, chosen by a vote of fans, are Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, Gervin, Sampson and forward Adrian Dantley of Utah.

Starting for the East are forwards Larry Bird of Boston and Julius Erving of Philadelphia, center Moses Malone of Philadelphia and guards Isiah Thomas of Detroit and rookie Michael Jordan of Chicago.

“I’m just going to let Bird, Thomas and Air Jordan play,� Jones said.

The West reserves are forwards Larry Nance of Phoenix and Alex English and Calvin Natt, both of Denver; centers Jack Sikma of Seattle and Olajuwon, and guards Rolando Blackman of Dallas and Norm Nixon of the Clippers.

Coming off the bench for the East are forwards Bernard King of New York and Terry Cummings of Milwaukee, centers Robert Parish of Boston and Bill Laimbeer of Detroit, and guards Micheal Ray Richardson of New Jersey, Boston’s Dennis Johnson and Sidney Moncrief of Milwaukee.

Nance, Jordan and Erving are the only all-stars who also will compete today in the NBA Slam-Dunk Championship. Nance, who won last year, and Erving, the 1984 runner-up, have a bye into the semifinals, where they will face the top two finishers from the first round.

Jordan, Clyde Drexler of Portland, Orlando Woolridge of Chicago, Darrell Griffith of Utah, Terence Stansbury of Indiana and Dominique Wilkins of Atlanta will compete in the preliminary.

In an effort to encourage the players to try more difficult dunks, the NBA changed the slam-dunk rules so that missed shots are not penalized.

Also today, two teams of oldtimers coached by Red Holzman and Bobby Leonard will play an abbreviated game. The players range in age from Pete Maravich, 36, to Bobby Davies, 65.

Two former stars from Indiana’s three-time American Basketball Assn. championship teams, Roger Brown and Mel Daniels, are on the East squad, although each never played in an NBA game.

Before the oldtimers’ game and the slam-dunk event, the NBA Board of Governors meets and is expected to discuss the proposed purchase by Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of baseball’s Chicago White Sox, of a majority interest in the Chicago Bulls.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said Friday he expected the board to approve the sale.