%&!%$! Lakers Riled Up : Pro basketball: Coach makes a statement and team responds to beat Mavericks, 103-91.

Pat Riley often cloaks his criticism in trendy psychological catch-phrases. Rarely will the Laker coach publicly tear into his players with his approximation of street language.

But even an erudite, post-modern coach such as Riley sometimes needs to deliver an old-fashioned chewing out, sprinkled with profanity, and the opportunity arose 20 seconds into the second quarter of the Lakers’ 103-91 victory over the Dallas Mavericks here Wednesday night.

Coming off a blowout loss to Houston a night earlier, the Lakers once again were flailing about, seemingly without purpose, against the Mavericks. And, when Maverick center Bill Wennington scored over Orlando Woolridge on a second shot for 12-point Dallas lead, Riley hastily called a 20-second timeout.

Using language he usually reserves for the privacy of the locker room, Riley spent those 20 seconds barking unexpurgated insults like Don Rickles in Vegas. What it did was shock the Lakers into recognizing and rectifying their defensive inertia.

The result: A 22-9 Laker run that erased Dallas’ lead and ultimately gave the Lakers’ a five-point halftime margin they never relinquished.

“The only way for us to get our game going is to rebound and run, and (Riley) stressed those points quite strongly,” said Woolridge, laughing. “That’s something we needed to hear then. It helped. It was typical coach fashion. You can fill in the . . . blanks.”

It was not as if Riley had never resorted to harsh words with his players. He just rarely is so vocal in public. Laker players, it turned out, were more inspired than embarrassed.

“He should have got on everybody at that point,” Magic Johnson said. “You shouldn’t let what happened happen. And he said it in some words that got through to us.”

All Riley would say about his explosion was this: “You have to make a statement.”

By the end of the night, Riley had nothing but statements of praise for the way his players responded in improving their record to 44-14, especially since guard Byron Scott missed his second game in a row with a strained left hamstring.

While Riley and others credited the defensive commitment as the galvanizing force in the victory, which kept the Lakers 3 1/2 games ahead of Portland in the Pacific Division, there also were outstanding individual performances.

A wiser Woolridge was not beaten again defensively after the tongue-lashing, and became an offensive force. He scored 12 points in the Lakers’ second-quarter turnaround and finished with 22. Included were two consecutive spectacular dunks early in the fourth quarter that gave the Lakers a 13-point lead.

In Scott’s absence, Johnson provided ample backcourt scoring. Playing with a sore lower back, a sore thigh and bruised right knee after being bumped late in the first quarter, Johnson sank four three-point shots, tying his season high, and had 21 points and 11 assists.

And James Worthy overcame a slow offensive start to almost single-handedly ensure the victory. Worthy had only 10 points through three quarters, but had 14 of the Lakers’ 27 fourth-quarter points. At one point, Worthy scored nine consecutive Laker points, including a desperation three-pointer from the corner with 4:28 left that increased the lead from four to seven points.

Riley’s contention is that the renewed defensive effort opened the offense for Worthy, Woolridge and others.

“It was a defensive win,” Riley said. “We tried to ask ourselves why we were so flat (in Tuesday night’s 17-point loss to Houston) and it all comes down to the effort and energy. We just declared we were going to win on the road and do it with defense.”

Dallas still out-rebounded the Lakers, 42-35. But the Laker defense, in the final three quarters, forced the Mavericks into poor shots. Dallas shot 54% in the first quarter, then 38.4% the rest of the game.

“After the first quarter, we played our game offensively and defensively,” Johnson said. “We got the outside game going and James and Orlando got the inside game going.”

Michael Cooper started in Scott’s absence for the second consecutive night, and his contributions were mainly defensive.

The offensive slack was picked up by Johnson, who now has made 37% of his three-point shots, and Woolridge, who made 10 of 13 attempts. Worthy had trouble finding open shots in the first half, but broke loose in the fourth quarter.

Said Riley: “James has got to learn that when people push him off the block he has got to run the break and get some different shots other than his inside play.”

The coach made that assessment soothingly. He had yelled enough for one night.

Laker Notes

Magic Johnson bumped knees with a Maverick late in the second quarter and limped for a while. Said Johnson: “My lower back was messed up. My thigh hurt. My knees. It was a whole lot of stuff; but mostly my thigh.” . . . Derek Harper led Dallas with 24 points, Rolando Blackman 16.

Byron Scott reported that his strained left hamstring still is sore, but that he hopes to play in Friday night’s home game against the Golden State Warriors. Coach Pat Riley said he might use James Worthy and even Orlando Woolridge at the off-guard spot until Scott returns.