Laker-Maverick Series Becoming a Little Testy, On and Off the Court

The best thing about the Lakers’ playoff series with the Dallas Mavericks is that it’s not over yet. It’s been such great fun, what with swapping victories and trading insults, you almost hate to see it end.

Let’s see where we are right now. The best-of-seven series is tied, 2-2, and just about everybody is angry about someone or something, which is probably the way it should be. These are the playoffs, after all.

So far, Pat Riley is peeved at Dick Motta, Motta is upset because the Mavericks aren’t ahead, the Lakers are upset because they aren’t ahead, Michael Cooper is mad at himself, and Mitch Kupchak is mad at his accountant.

How did Kupchak’s accountant get into this thing?

“He didn’t file my taxes on time,” Kupchak said.

It seems a pity, with all that’s going on, but for one of these teams, the end is in sight. By Saturday afternoon, the Western Conference semifinal playoff series will be finished, in seven games or fewer.

Game 5 will be played tonight in the Forum, a venue that should favor the Lakers since they’ll also be at home for a seventh game, should one be required. James Worthy fully expects the Lakers to be playing Dallas in Game 7 next Saturday in the Forum.

“We knew it was a seven-game series from the very beginning,” Worthy said.

Maybe so, but Kupchak didn’t.

“I expected this to go five games, or maybe 4-2, but not seven games,” he said.

The Lakers have had an equally tough time getting their act together on defense in this series, which is what Cooper is upset about.

“I’m mad at us and me,” he said. “We’ve been kind of lackadaisical with our defense.

“We have to shut down some of the players who have been hitting big shots for them, mainly (Derek) Harper and (Sam) Perkins. They’ve been wide open.”

Cooper said that when the Lakers double-team Mark Aguirre, who had 39 points in Sunday’s 120-118 Dallas victory, the Lakers must rotate quickly back to their individual defensive assignments.

“It’s the same thing with us. If we throw it in to Kareem and they double-team, that’s how I get my three-pointers and Byron Scott gets his open shots and everybody else scores,” Cooper said. “They’re doing to us what we do to them.”

Never in their brief playoff history have the Mavericks done to anyone else what they did to the Lakers Sunday afternoon. The Mavericks shot 59.8%, a figure that included a staggering 74.1% mark in a 45-point first quarter.

“If they end up shooting like that, they might win the series,” Magic Johnson said. “When you see Bill Wennington coming off the bench and shooting a three-pointer, you say, ‘Man, what else can happen?’ ”

Worthy decided to speculate.

“If they continue to shoot like that, it’s going to be tough for anybody in the league to beat them,” he said. “I think they would have a good chance to win the NBA crown.”

The Lakers would like a chance to repeat, even though Motta says they probably won’t win the championship again. He said that the Mavericks have a good chance to finish the Lakers’ season.

“We should be ahead, 3-1,” Motta said after Game 4.

Riley has been a little put off by a few of Motta’s other comments. Motta said, for instance, that Utah’s defense is tougher than the Lakers’.

Riley is sensitive to such criticism, but since his outburst Sunday--he accused Motta of “raping” the Lakers of their dignity--Riley has calmed down.

“(Motta) is entitled to his opinion,” Riley said.

“We’ll take care of business Tuesday night. We have to. But if they continue to shoot the ball like they did Sunday, they’re going to be very difficult to contest.”

Then Riley looked at the Mavericks’ victory in Game 4 another way.

“They had to shoot extremely well Sunday to get a two-point victory,” he said. “As the series progresses, I would like to see them shoot off the break. The rim gets a little smaller as the games become more significant. And let’s face it, the games now are very significant.”

However Game 5 turns out, Riley maintains that it certainly will not be the ultimate game in this series for either team.

“The ultimate game is when you can get ready to say bye-bye,” he said.

And until that time arrives in this series, there’s something else that probably won’t go away either. That would be the skirmishes, some of them verbal, that seem to be breaking out all over.

The Lakers insist that they have had plenty of practice for that type of warfare the last two seasons playing Boston in the finals. The Celtics had their own towel waver in M. L. Carr, who matched Wennington in vigor and also was more experienced.

Then there is the Motta factor. Kupchak, who played for Motta with the Washington Bullets, said there is nothing that Motta can say that’s worth getting upset about.

“All it is is just a game of words,” he said “I don’t think it’s wrong at all. I get a kick out of it because I know Dick and I know Riles (Riley) pretty well, too.

“That’s just the way Dick is,” Kupchak said. “He’s always had that profile of being a little general, so to speak. That’s the way he coaches. He challenges other players, other coaches and even his own players.”

Whatever the inspiration, there are more than enough challenges to go around for everybody.

Laker Notes Magic Johnson said that the Laker defense needs to pick up the Mavericks a little higher on the court. “That’s everybody,” he said. “They only got one man who can’t really shoot and he’s down low and that’s (James) Donaldson, but everybody else seems to have outstanding range.” . . . The Lakers have lost two straight conference playoff games. The last time that happened was in 1979 against Seattle. . . . Before the two Dallas victories over the weekend, the Mavericks had lost 14 of their last 17 games to the Lakers. . . . KCBS (Channel 2) announced that Thursday’s game at Dallas would be televised live at 6:30 p.m.