Lakers Can’t Stop Dallas, Lose, 103-99 : Mavericks’ Win Pinpoints L.A. Weakness: Rebounding

The status quo took a beating along with the Lakers Monday night.

And it may be a bull market for available big men--has anyone seen Mychal Thompson?--after the Dallas Mavericks pinned the Lakers up against the Forum backboards in a 103-99 Maverick win before a sellout crowd of 17,505.

In losing at home for only the second time in 21 games, the Lakers were outrebounded by a 51-33 margin, the seventh time in the last eight games they have been beaten on the boards.

The last rebound was by James Donaldson, the ex-Clipper who grabbed a missed runner by Magic Johnson with six seconds to play and the Mavericks holding a two-point lead. Donaldson, who had a game-high 13 rebounds, was fouled on the play and made both free throws, ensuring the Mavericks’ third straight win against the Lakers in the rubber game of their five-game season series.

The Lakers, meanwhile, scored fewer than 100 points for only the second time this season, due in great part to an 18-point third quarter--matching their season low--in which they made just 8 of 27 shots, a 29.6 percentage.

“I think it’s obvious we could use another big body,” said Laker Coach Pat Riley, who resisted any impulse to publicly lobby for Mychal Thompson, the San Antonio backup center who reportedly could be had for the right price.

“We’re walking around on eggshells right now. We want to improve ourselves to the point where we have the best chance to win a championship while Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) is still here.

“Once he’s gone, our chances of winning are very slim, regardless of who we get to replace him. So we might as well try to surround him with enough size to help him.”

The Mavericks, who trailed by five at the half, 55-50, turned that around in the third quarter, when they took a 78-73 lead. But they did not score a basket in the last 3:17, when Donaldson jammed home a feed from Mark Aguirre, was fouled and made the free throw to give Dallas a 99-90 lead, its biggest of the game.

James Worthy layed in a pass from Byron Scott, who then hit a 25-foot three-pointer to draw the Lakers within four, 99-95 with 1:53 to play.

Rolando Blackman drew a blocking foul from Abdul-Jabbar and made both free throws to make it 101-95. Magic Johnson cut it to four again, hitting a jumper off an in-bounds pass, then combined on a double-team with Kareem that caused Donaldson to throw away a pass, the ball winding up in Worthy’s hands.

Worthy was fouled at midcourt by Aguirre, made both free throws and it was a two-point game, 101-99, with 70 seconds left.

Aguirre, who led the Mavericks with 27 points, was isolated on Worthy in the last 40 seconds, but missed a 17-footer. Blackman grabbed the rebound, but Michael Cooper momentarily slapped the ball out of his hands, and by the time Blackman got the ball under control, he was whistled for a three-second violation.

The Lakers tried to work the ball down low to Abdul-Jabbar, who had 19 points, but Blackman slapped Scott’s pass out of bounds with 12 seconds to go. After a Laker time out, the in-bounds pass went to Johnson, guarded tightly by Derek Harper. Johnson spun around into the lane, pulled up and misfired.

“I came down the lane but got cut off,” said Johnson, who had a quiet (for him) 18 points. “I just had to pull up and shoot.”

The difference between the teams was self-evident, he said.

“It’s the same old story--rebounding,” he said. “They killed us on the boards.”

The Mavericks, the only team to beat the Lakers three times this season, are hoping that they’ve killed the notion they can’t get past the Lakers in the playoffs. The Lakers have eliminated the Mavericks from the playoffs in two of the last three seasons, last spring after a tough six-game series.

“We definitely feel we can win in here,” Harper said. “We had control of the game all the way down to the last couple of seconds.

“We’ve had these guys in the same situation in the past, but let it get away from us. In this game, we gained a lot of confidence.”

The Lakers, who had trailed by seven, 90-83, with 7:36 to go, closed to within four on Cooper’s three-pointer and got the ball right back when Roy Tarpley was called for traveling.

A moment later, it looked like a two-point game when Kurt Rambis went over Donaldson for a jam, but referee Bill Oakes called an offensive foul on Rambis, who had held off Donaldson with his left arm.

“It’s the kind of call where most of the time they make it on the defensive player,” Donaldson said. “I was going for the block, but Kurt came up high and tried to pin my arms.

“That play has happened hundreds of times in my career, and almost always the foul has been on me.”

The 7-2 Donaldson also acknowledged that the Lakers could use another big man.

“They don’t have that big a team,” Donaldson said. “Kareem’s a big guy, but Rambis, in this day and age, is overmatched by a lot of big power forwards.

“We don’t have a huge team, but we have a pretty good rebounding team. All of our guys go after it.

“Another big guy couldn’t hurt (the Lakers). You can never have enough of them.”