MAGIC JOHNSON: AS IF BY MAGIC

WHEN HE REPORTED TO THE scorer's table at the Great Western Forum, the game clock was stopped with 9:39 remaining in the first quarter. Yet it was after his entrance, and after the clock began ticking away, that time stood still. Earvin Johnson may have been 4 1/2 years older and 30 lbs. heavier than when he last played in the N.B.A., but the Magic we saw last Tuesday looked an awful lot like the Magic we remembered as he passed and deked and shot and led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 128-118 victory over the visiting Golden State Warriors....