OFF THE MARK : Aguirre Finds No Consolation in Coming Close, Shrugs Off Injury

Mark Aguirre, the Dallas Mavericks’ All-Star forward, looked drained as he entered the locker room after the Lakers whipped the Mavericks, 117-102, Saturday at the Forum to advance to the National Basketball Assn. finals for the second straight season.

Aguirre, the Mavericks’ top gun, had played his heart out, scoring a team-high 24 points as the Lakers eliminated the Mavericks for the third time in the last five seasons. Now he just wanted to be alone, so he took a long, long shower to wash away the pain of losing the most important game of his seven-year pro basketball career.

Donald Carter, the Maverick owner, walked over to Aguirre to console him. “I know Mark isn’t happy, but he has a right to be very proud of what we did this season,” Carter said.

Asked if he was proud of what the Mavericks accomplished by pushing the defending champions to the brink of elimination, Aguirre said: “No, not at all. This isn’t what I was looking for. My eyes were set on winning a championship. We got close, but it didn’t happen. It doesn’t matter how far we got, we didn’t get there. This isn’t what my dream is.

“I don’t look for moral victories. I wanted to win the world championship, so it wasn’t a good season. This is no fun, but you have to accept it.”

The Mavericks, who lost their 10th straight playoff game at the Forum, also lost Aguirre on the first play of the final quarter after he suffered a minor injury to his left hand. Aguirre, the Mavericks’ top scorer, shoots with both hands, using a two-handed release.

The Mavericks came out in a full-court press at the start of the fourth quarter, and Aguirre was injured when he tried to deflect the inbounds pass to Mychal Thompson, the Lakers’ backup center.

Aguirre grabbed his hand and grimaced as he went to the bench just 22 seconds into the fourth quarter. J. Pat Evans, the Maverick team physician, diagnosed Aguirre’s injury as a sprain to the the first knuckle of the middle finger of his left hand.

Aguirre re-entered the game with 8 minutes 45 seconds remaining, but he was ineffective. And the Maverick offense seemed impotent as the Lakers took command of the game.

Aguirre, who scored 11 points in the first half and 11 more in the third quarter, scored just 2 points in the fourth quarter.

Aguirre, however, tried to downplay the importance of his injury.

“That had nothing to do with it. I wasn’t out that long, and I got back into the game,” he said. “The Lakers played at a different level. They played inspired basketball. They were very, very poised. They’ve been in this situation before. We played better today, but the Lakers took it to another level.”

Aguirre said Magic Johnson, who had 24 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists, was the key to the win for the Lakers.

“He (Johnson) had a mismatch the whole game,” Aguirre said. “We didn’t have any guard who could guard him. If we doubled him, he was giving it up for a layup, and if we had single coverage on him, he was going to the hoop.”

Aguirre and Johnson, who are close friends off the court, had a verbal confrontation when they got tangled in the key after Aguirre came back into the game. Aguirre, who felt Magic was holding him, screamed a profanity.

All seemed forgotten after the game, however, as they embraced.

“I’ll talk to him (Johnson) later,” Aguirre said. “When it gets to where the Lakers or Pistons are going to win the championship, I’ll go to that game. Right now I just want to go fishing.”

While the Mavericks were without Aguirre at the start of the final period, center James Donaldson was also missing for six minutes at crunch time.

The Lakers, who opened the game with a 9-1 run, looked as if they were going to blow the Mavericks all the way back to Big D, but Donaldson kept Dallas in it, scoring 12 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in the first half.

Donaldson, who had three points in the third quarter, failed to score in the fourth quarter after Coach John MacLeod pulled him from the game when Aguirre returned. The Mavericks were already out of the game by the time Donaldson returned with 2:43 left.

MacLeod said he pulled Donaldson because he had been forced to use him at the start of the fourth quarter after Aguirre was hurt, when he normally would have given Donaldson a rest.

Donaldson, who finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds, said he wasn’t upset at being benched.

“I’m more upset at the final score,” Donaldson said. “As far as not being in there, I just have to go with it. I’m certainly not going to blow a fuse or throw a tantrum on the bench.

“Knowing that there was no tomorrow, I just played as hard as I could. If we would have won and I would have had nothing left for the finals, that would have been OK with me. That was my goal, to get to the finals.”

The Mavericks might have gotten to the finals for the first time in their eight-year history if they had gotten a stronger effort from swingman Roy Tarpley, their leading rebounder.

Tarpley, who finished the series with 44 offensive rebounds, the second-most in a seven-game series, wasn’t as effective on the boards as he was earlier in the series, when he had a pair of 20-rebound games.

Tarpley, who scored 18 points, grabbed just 7 rebounds for the second time in two games, his worst outings of the playoffs.

He didn’t have much to say when asked how the Lakers neutralized him.

“The ball just wasn’t coming my way. That’s what happened, man,” Tarpley said. “I don’t feel like talking anymore.”