Bad guess.
In the Lakers' most important quarter of the season, this was Kareem's delivery:
Missing a sky hook.
Pushing off on a drive for an offensive foul.
Missing a free throw, making another.
Missing a sky hook.
Missing a sky hook.
Traveling on a move across the lane.
All this time, the Pistons were coming through with the rally that was enough to overtake the Lakers (108-105), only because L.A. made exactly two baskets in the fourth quarter.
Just when the Lakers needed him, Abdul-Jabbar was acting his age.
"We just had some bad luck," Kareem said.
"I thought he had some great shots; he just didn't convert," noted Coach Pat Riley.
Until the fourth quarter, the Tony Campbell Story was looking like hot property. Instead of collapsing immediately when Magic went out of a tie game in the third quarter, the Lakers went on a closing run led by Campbell.
The headlines were already taking shape. Here was Campbell, a former Piston 12th man, replacing Magic and going crazy against Detroit. Only last season, Campbell was the second player on his Continental Basketball Association team in Albany to be called up to the NBA - Scott Roth, who signed with the Jazz, was the first.
And here Campbell was, hitting a jumper and forcing up a successful 3-pointer. Late in the quarter with the Pistons playing for the last shot, Campbell stripped Isiah Thomas for a steal, took a lead pass and was fouled, making both free throws for a 92-84 Laker lead.
That's where the Campbell story faded and Abdul-Jabbar stepped forward and took over the game - the wrong way.
Kareem's first two missed sky hooks and his offensive foul came during the Pistons' 10-point run to open the quarter. The foul was questionable - "I thought he got a poor call against him with all the contact that's going on in this game," Riley said - but Kareem was clearly out of his element.
Riley eventually replaced him with Mychal Thompson and called on him in the last seven seconds only to have him watch James Worthy work an isolation play.
All of a sudden, the Lakers were struggling just to make a basket and become the first team to break 100 against the Pistons in the playoffs. They'd only needed eight points for triple figures entering the fourth quarter, remember, but they managed only four free throws until Thompson scored inside with 3:40 left. The historic 100th point finally came on Campbell's layup with 1:55 left.
Those were the Lakers' only hoops of the quarter, but free throws by Thompson and A.C. Green gave them a last chance to tie. The saddest thing for the Lakers, really, was not that James Worthy missed a free throw with two seconds left but that any offense at all in the quarter would have been enough to carry out the upset.
"I think it is difficult for both teams to score, because we both know it is a battle for life," observed Thomas.
In Abdul-Jabbar's case, this was one last chance to do something memorable in the playoffs. This series becomes very predictable now, regardless of the condition of Scott and Johnson. Count on the Pistons winning at least one game in the Forum and closing out the series in the Palace in Game 6 a week from Sunday, at the latest.
Riley is not backing down, saying, "One of the most dangerous things is a wounded animal in the corner."
Riley was almost smiling when he said that. What the hamstring injuries have done is take the pressure off Riley - who could blame him for losing this series with the league MVP and a starting guard out of the lineup?
For what will be viewed as the 12 most important minutes of the series, though, the pressure was squarely on Abdul-Jabbar. The Big Fella came up awfully short. He'd already retired.