Donaldson’s Big D in Dallas Sends Series to Game 7

Center James Donaldson saved the day for the Dallas Mavericks.

Donaldson, credited with a blocked shot on Laker forward James Worthy with two seconds left, preserved the Mavericks’ 105-103 win over the Lakers in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals Thursday night at Reunion Arena.

“I don’t think I got a piece of the ball on Worthy’s last shot,” Donaldson said. “I just think he left it short on the rim. Worthy was driving to the basket so quickly that he left his man. But I got over there quickly, and he saw me and he had to alter his shot.

“This shows that we don’t have to play a perfect game to beat the Lakers. We think we withstood their best shot. We just squeezed by tonight.”

The Mavericks, who faced elimination, won to force a seventh game for the first time since they entered the National Basketball Assn. in 1980.

Asked whether Donaldson fouled him on the play, Worthy, who led the Lakers with 27 points and 11 rebounds said: “I haven’t seen the replay, so I can’t comment on it.”

Donaldson may have been the hero for the Mavericks, but forward Roy Tarpley, who had 12 points and 7 rebounds, also made two key defensive plays for the Mavericks.

With the Mavericks holding a 101-98 lead, Tarpley stripped Laker center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the ball as Abdul-Jabbar was trying to set up for a skyhook with 2:22 remaining.

“It was just instinct,” Tarpley said. “He faked me baseline and he had it down low, and I got a hand on it and knocked it out of his hands. I’m just glad he didn’t get a chance to shoot the skyhook.”

Tarpley frustrated the Lakers again when he blocked a shot by Worthy with 34 seconds left. Abdul-Jabbar, however, controlled the rebound to set up Worthy’s final shot.

Dallas has not won in nine playoff games at the Forum. However, Donaldson, who had 11 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocked shots as the Mavericks beat the Lakers for the third straight time at home, thinks the Mavericks are due.

“It was do or die for us tonight, but it finally will be do or die in Game 7,” Donaldson said. “I think we’re due for a win out there.”

Maverick guard Rolando Blackman, who had 22 points, thinks that the Mavericks have to slow the Lakers’ fast break in order to eliminate the defending NBA champions.

“We just have to stay aggressive,” Blackman said. “We have to play better in the Forum. They don’t have leprechauns like they have in Boston, but they’ve got something that makes them play better out there. We have to keep the game close and make it tough for them to do the things they do on offense.

“This is a one-game series now. This is the kind of situation you dream about.”

Said Dallas forward Sam Perkins: “I don’t know exactly why we don’t play well out there, but we haven’t played a good game there in a long time. They have the upper hand, but we just have to keep believing in ourselves.”

Said Dallas Coach John MacLeod: “I don’t have a prediction. Hopefully we’ve learned a lot from the three games we played out there. They just cracked us. They did a lot of things well out there.”

All-Star forward Mark Aguirre, who led Dallas with 23 points and 13 rebounds, refused to make any predictions for Saturday’s game.

“Predictions? I’m not a fortune teller,” Aguirre said. “I’m not Nancy Reagan. I can’t make any predictions.”

If Aguirre plays as well against the Lakers Saturday as he did here Thursday, however, the Mavericks may advance to the NBA finals for the first time ever.