<i> Pressure</i> Key Word in Game 6 : Lakers, Mavericks Know the Heat Is Up in Reunion Tonight

Nobody expected the Dallas Mavericks to be so difficult to beat, and nobody expected the Lakers to have such a tough time beating them, either.

Is there any logical explanation?

“ They don’t know what pressure is,” Magic Johnson said. “For us , it isn’t nothing new because we’ve been there so many times before.”

And now the Lakers are there again. Tonight, they will carry a 3-2 lead into Game 6 of the best-of-seven conference semifinal playoff series with Dallas and will also have the first opportunity to end it.

All the Lakers have to do is beat the Mavericks in a very noisy Reunion Arena. Of course, that is something the Lakers haven’t done yet in these National Basketball Assn. playoffs. There may be no logical explanation for that, but maybe it shouldn’t be considered too surprising in this series. It’s all been so confusing.

So far, the series has sounded a lot like a weather report. We’ve had fast moving areas of high pressure, usually pointed in the direction of the losing team. And that, of course, is affecting the tide, which has turned more than once.

The forecast is not clear. There’s even a disagreement on what has already happened.

“The series should be 4-1 in our favor,” Dallas Coach Dick Motta said.

Laker Maurice Lucas disagreed, saying that he doesn’t know what’s the matter with Motta.

“We’re going to take the position we’re down by one,” Lucas said.

There. Now you know the strategies. The Mavericks are pretending to be ahead when they are really behind, and the Lakers are going to act as if they’re behind, even though they’re actually ahead.

If that sounds a bit confusing, it can’t be any more difficult to understand than why the Lakers are having so many problems shedding the Mavericks.

The Mavericks have not played like misdirected losers who just happened to get in the way of the Lakers and their appointment with the Celtics.

“I think they think they can win this series,” James Worthy said.

Who would have thought that the Lakers would lose consecutive two-point games to the Mavericks last weekend in Reunion? Suddenly, the Mavericks gained a great deal of confidence.

If the Lakers fail to put away the Mavericks tonight, a seventh game Saturday afternoon in the Forum will determine which team advances to the conference final.

So the question remains: Who’s feeling the pressure now?

“I think if it’s a seven-game series, they’ll have a tremendous amount of pressure on them,” Maverick guard Derek Harper said. “I mean, there’s no pressure on us. Nobody expected us to come to Los Angeles tied, 2-2, and nobody will expect us to go back there tied, 3-3.”

Certainly, more than a few Lakers don’t want to expect that.

“We’ll be trying to take care of business in Game 6, so there’s no need for Game 7,” Michael Cooper said. “But I know it won’t be easy. The confidence is still in their eyes.”

Those eyes must have been a little crossed Tuesday night in Game 5. But even though the Mavericks missed 13 free throws, which probably turned a potential victory into a 116-113 defeat at the Forum, they are not acting as though they are shaken.

“We have to keep our concentration,” guard Rolando Blackman said. “We feel that we can win.”

Of course, the Lakers feel the same way, and unlike the Mavericks, they have two chances and a margin for error.

“No matter what happens in Game 6, we can still come back to the Forum if we have to,” Johnson said.

The way the Mavericks have been playing, the Lakers may have to do just that.

Laker Notes Byron Scott had his worst shooting game of the playoffs Tuesday night, making only 3 of 13 shots. He was bothered by back spasms and also sprained his right thumb. Scott said his thumb should be all right, but he isn’t so certain about his back. “(The spasms) might still be bothering me,” he said. “I’ll just have to wait and see.” . . . The Lakers are outshooting the Mavericks, 53.9% to 50.7%, but that doesn’t diminish the impact that Dallas’ shooting has had on the series because so many of the Maverick baskets have been from long range. In fact, the Mavericks are shooting better from the three-point line, 56%, than from two-point range. Maurice Lucas is impressed. “I don’t think in all my years in this game I’ve seen a better-shooting team from the outside,” he said. “Every time we get in their face, they still manage to put the ball in the basket. In Game 5, we forced them to take the shots we wanted them to take. The funny thing is, they still made them.”