Once Again, Lakers Get a Big Win Over Mavericks, 116-113

The Dallas Mavericks like to imagine what might have happened if the deciding game of last season’s Western Conference finals had been played here in Reunion Arena--where they had beaten the Lakers three straight times in May--instead of at the Forum, where the Lakers passed “Go” on their way to a second straight title.

For that reason, Friday night’s season opener had added urgency for the Mavericks, who relished an early chance to re-sow the seed of supposed Laker vulnerability.

Instead, after the Lakers had outscored them, 10-1, on their home floor in the last 2:14 for a 116-113 win, the Mavericks only succeeded in reinforcing their worst fears--in a big game, even if it was just Game 1 of an 82-game regular-season schedule, the Lakers will find a way to shoot the Mavericks’ horses right out from under them.

“It looks like they got scared,” Laker guard Michael Cooper said, “well, maybe not scared, but I think they felt the noose around their neck.”

So much for pay-back time.

“We’d been waiting for this game all summer, ever since we saw it on the schedule,” said Dallas guard Rolando Blackman, who set a team record for an opener with 34 points but took only one shot after his hanger in the lane had put the Mavericks ahead, 112-106, with 2:34 left.

“We wanted to come in here and win, and to lose it in the last few minutes hurt all the more. Disappointing, disappointing, very disappointing.

“And the Lakers? No different. Same team. Great team.”

The Lakers have consistently found a way to deflate the 10-gallon hat on Dallas owner Donald Carter’s head, and Friday night they probably had Dallas Coach John MacLeod signaling for a timeout in his sleep.

MacLeod tried in vain to call time out after James Worthy’s pump-fake and layup gave the Lakers a 114-113 lead with 24 seconds left, their first lead since Worthy’s explosive drive and jam past Roy Tarpley had put them ahead, 92-91, with 9:43 to go in the fourth quarter.

But MacLeod’s break-dancing along the sideline went unnoticed by the Mavericks on the floor, Derek Harper missed a three-pointer--the only 1 of 4 he missed in the game--and Magic Johnson grabbed the rebound. With 4 seconds left, Johnson was fouled and made both free throws, and Worthy stole Sam Perkins’ in-bounds pass.

“He (MacLeod) called a play first, then he tried to call time out, but by then it was too late,” said Worthy, who led the Lakers with 25 points, 14 in the third quarter when the Lakers trimmed a 9-point Dallas lead, 87-78, to 2 with an 8-1 rush in the last 2:14 of the period.

Laker Coach Pat Riley said he was barely aware of MacLeod, he was just glad the Lakers had gotten a shot off after Johnson had taken the 24-second clock nearly to the limit while maneuvering for a hook shot.

At the last moment, Johnson--who had tossed in a 20-foot fadeaway push shot, which was followed by Byron Scott’s game-tying 18-footer--dished off to Worthy.

“Magic dribbled the clock down to 4 seconds,” Riley said, “and James’ pump-fake lasted about 10 seconds.”

Worthy said he and Magic had made eye contact just before the pass.

“I knew I’d get it if I was open,” Worthy said. “He was about ready to throw the hook when he saw me.”

The Mavericks did a swell job of giving themselves the hook with ill-advised shots down the stretch--an air ball by Mark Aguirre in baseline traffic, a hurried 3-point bomb by Aguirre off an in-bounds pass, and Harper’s missed 3-pointer, although Blackman insisted afterward that his backcourt mate was wide open and taking the right shot under the circumstances.

A.C. Green, who had gone without a single rebound in the first half, grabbed 2 Maverick misses in the last couple of minutes and also turned up the Lakers’ defensive pressure on the trap.

“We made a couple of mistakes and took some bad shots,” said Dallas center James Donaldson, who helped to hold Abdul-Jabbar to single digits (9 points) in the first game of his final season. “You can’t afford to make those kinds of mistakes against a team like the Lakers. They just keep coming back, pounding and chipping away.”

Some of that chipping was done by Cooper, who came off the worst shooting season of his career to score 11 points with 4-for-6 shooting, including both 3-pointers he attempted. Cooper also rejected a shot by Dallas 7-footer Roy Tarpley on a fast-break layup, and while Cooper was called for a foul on the play, it galvanized the Lakers during their late third-quarter run.

“This year I told myself not to worry about the 3-point shot,” Cooper said. “This is probably going to be one of the best years for Michael Cooper and not just to make up for a bad year last season. Every NBA player has bad seasons, although mine was worse than bad.”

Scott, who is coming off his best season, had 18 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

“We had a couple of things to prove to ourselves,” Scott said. “We didn’t play well on the road in the playoffs--we had to establish ourselves on the road, and there was no better way to do it than playing Dallas in Dallas before a big crowd (17,007).

“And we weren’t used to losing close games, like we did in the playoffs. I think tonight we showed not only Dallas, but the rest of the league.”

And there’s more than one NBA team, Riley said, aware of the fact that the Lakers are playing 17 of their first 24 games on the road.

“I think this is the first time that opponents truly believe they can beat us,” Riley said. “In their minds they think they can beat us.

“And secondly, I think our greatest test will be us, whether we can constantly conjure up the effort. We can’t rely on overpowering teams with our talent and our post game.

“Everybody is looking at our schedule, thinking that maybe if we got off to a bad start, they can go. We can’t give them life.”

Friday night, as is their wont, they squeezed it right out of the Mavericks.

“We have to let people know,” Worthy said, “we’re not going to roll over just because we’ve won back-to-back titles.”

Blackman, meanwhile, said he’ll know what to do next time when MacLeod wants to get his attention.

“I think I’ll wear a headset,” Blackman said.

Laker Notes

The Lakers play tonight in San Antonio, a game that will be the Spurs’ season opener as well as the return to the NBA of Larry Brown, who left Kansas (and turned down UCLA) to come back to the pros. . . . Orlando Woolridge played 18 minutes in his Laker debut, scoring 11 points, grabbing 3 rebounds and blocking a shot by Dallas’ Roy Tarpley at the start of the fourth quarter. . . . Rookie David Rivers, Tony Campbell and Jeff Lamp did not play for the Lakers. Mark McNamara, a free agent who took Mike Smrek’s job as third center, played 5 minutes for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and made his only shot. . . . Abdul-Jabbar was just 3 for 10 shooting. He did, however, thread a pass to Mychal Thompson that set up 2 free throws, cutting Dallas’ lead to 112-108 with 2:14 left. . . . The Lakers made all 4 of their 3-point attempts: Michael Cooper had 2, Magic Johnson and Byron Scott 1 apiece. . . . Tarpley was a poor 3 for 12 from the floor and finished with just 8 points. . . . Rolando Blackman made 12 of 20 shots and was 10 for 10 from the line for his 34 points. . . . As a team, however, the Mavericks shot just 45.7% to the Lakers’ 51.3%.