NBA PLAYOFFS / WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS : Lakers Take Care of David : Game 4: Role of Goliath is no problem in 123-107 victory over Golden State that gives L.A. a 3-1 series lead.

By MARK HEISLER

May 13, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND — The Lakers, who have been breaking hearts in the Bay Area since Ronald Reagan was governor, put on a clinic in inducing community-wide gloom Sunday.

James Worthy, who held Chris Mullin to 13 points Friday, held him to nine.

Run TMC--T-im Hardaway, M-itch Richmond, C-hris Mullin--walked.

The Lakers ran up a 21-point lead and beat Golden State, 123-107, for a 3-1 series lead while Northern Californians proved they could get to the exits as fast as their fellow citizens down south.

Suddenly, it’s almost baseball season in the Bay Area.

“It’s not a hard series to figure,” said Warrior Coach Don Nelson, a guerrilla chieftain tiring of B-52 flyovers. “It’s big versus small, small versus big. Every now and then, David slew Goliath, but not many times.

“They don’t write about all the times Goliath kicked the . . . out of David’s butt.”

The Lakers played some of their best defense, and finally the Warriors simply went cold.

They missed four layups and an uncontested dunk in the first quarter, a failure of execution highlighted by Alton Lister’s jam into the back of the iron, producing a rebound that almost reached the half-court line on a fly.

The usually sure-handed Mullin missed a layup and bricked open jump shots from 15 and 18 shots, with Worthy dogging him and Lakers jumping out to help on screens.

Mullin missed all five of his shots in the first period and the air left his balloon.

Said Mullin of Worthy: “He reminds me a lot of Dennis Rodman. He gets in your stuff off the dribble, and he’s still big enough to get into your shot when you step back. He and Dennis are the two quickest big guys in the league, and no one else is even close.”

Dennis Rodman?

“I’m no Dennis Rodman,” Worthy said, “but (in) 20-odd years playing basketball, I’ve learned to play some fundamental defense.”

The Lakers played solid fundamental offense Sunday, too.

Thus it was little surprise when they led by 10 points in the first quarter, five at the half, six after three periods and broke the game open in the fourth.

The Lakers had sat quietly in the dressing room before the game. Magic Johnson was asked about Hardaway, whom he would guard, announcing he would control the game “from the tipoff.”

A small smile.

“We’ll see,” Johnson said. “We shall see.”

They paced in front of their bench before the streamlined player introductions, this time without benefit of the rap group Run-D.M.C., which had brought the Warriors out Friday.

“They gonna have Aretha Franklin or what?” said a member of the Lakers’ staff.

The Lakers then fell upon the Warriors, defended them, posted them up to death with Sam Perkins, the game’s high scorer with 27, and kept them off the fast break.

With one gun silent and the Lakers flying back on defense, Golden State couldn’t shoot its way back in. Richmond and Hardaway settled for 26 and 22 points, respectively. The Lakers, who held Run TMC to 61 points Friday, 30 below their Game 2 level, whittled them to 57 Sunday.

“Well,” said Nelson, “I think we got their attention.

“They just played a terrific game. We burned out everything we had. They countered and scored.

“We double-teamed, they scored. We didn’t double-team, they scored. We trapped, they scored.

“I couldn’t even hardly complain at all. I try to get on the referees, but the Lakers don’t foul too much (they shot 23 more free throws Sunday). Even the ones I had questions on, I saw them on videotape and they were all right. . . .

“Their team is the opposite of ours. You see how Byron Scott (21 points, making eight of 13 shots) gets open because they go down to the box (throw the ball inside). Guys know where he is. They know when it happens. They go places we can’t.”

Having collected every last thing on their shopping list, the Lakers flew south, where they are more popular.

Not that they minded a little furor.

“When it’s just 12 of us and a coach and three assistants in an arena and loud, noisy fans, that gets us pumped up,” Worthy said.

“Nothing got us more pumped up than that Run-whatever before the (Friday) game.”

Next time the Warriors will know better.

Laker Notes

Byron Scott, who set a Laker playoff record with seven steals Friday, broke his personal playoff record with 11 rebounds, despite playing with a bruised knee. “They wanted me to wear a pad on it,” Scott said. “I didn’t want to. (Trainer) Gary Vitti told me, ‘If you get hit, I don’t want 15,000 people to see you cry.’ ” . . . Chris Mullin was held to single figures for the first time in 189 games, dating to March 25, 1989. . . . Coach Mike Dunleavy credited Elden Campbell with “giving us a huge lift. I did take your (media) advice, and I didn’t leave him in at the end of the game.” . . . Campbell stayed in with the first unit until the game was decided, and Magic Johnson told Dunleavy to relieve them all “before somebody gets hurt.” . . . Four teams have come from 3-1 behind to win a playoff series. Don Nelson has coached two Milwaukee teams that came from 3-1 behind to force a seventh game, but both lost.

* JUST TOO BIG: The Lakers exploited a size advantage, and Sam Perkins showed his ability to improvise. C6