Lakers Size Up the Warriors : Basketball: Six-foot-9 Perkins scores 30 points, his most as a Laker, to lead 111-109 victory over smaller Golden State.

For every Maverick game you donate to a worthy cause, there is a tougher one you had better win or you will find yourself looking down the barrel of real trouble.

The Lakers met their challenge to beat the Golden State Warriors, 111-109, Saturday night behind Sam Perkins’ 30 points, his high as a Laker.

The Lakers, starting a string of five road games in the next seven, watched Don Nelson’s greatest little team in the world heat up as the night went on. Then they cooled them off in crunch time. The Warriors shot 50% in the first quarter, 52% in the second, 55% in the third . . . but 32% in the fourth.

It was then that Laker size finally told. The 6-foot-9 Perkins began posting up and working over 6-7 Tom Tolbert, fouled him out and burned some of his teammates, too.

Perkins drew three key fouls in the last 1:44 and made all six free throws.

In all, he made 10 of 14 shots and blocked three shots.

Was he feeling great?

Actually, no.

“I’m still sick,” he said later, smiling. “They were going to me and my stomach was cramping up. I just kept trying to throw that hook up there.”

When hooks weren’t available, fortune intervened.

With the score tied, 103-103, Perkins drove the lane with Tolbert on his hip, fell and picked up the foul. Tolbert fouled out and Perkins made two free throws.

With the score tied, 105-105, Perkins was caught in the corner with the shot clock down to five seconds and the Laker bench screaming for a shot. He drove instead, got into the lane, managed to beat the buzzer with a scoop shot that missed . . . and picked up a foul on Steve Johnson.

Perkins made those free throws, too, and the Lakers never again were tied.

“They (the Lakers) have a lot of big names on their team,” Nelson complained later. “That can have an effect on younger referees.”

Gary Benson was the only referee under age 35 working Saturday.

Laker Coach Mike Dunleavy, considerably happier, saw his team’s three-day post-Dallas-loss funk come to an end. Barely in time, he said.

“You’re always concerned,” Dunleavy said. “A game like that can really set you back. It’s a home game, a game you think you should win. It was very important that we come here and play well. Whether we won or not, we wanted to play a good game and establish ourselves. You don’t want to go on the road with a losing streak, feeling bad about yourself.”

The Lakers began the night somberly, coming off an upset at home at the hands of the Mavericks, facing some hotter hands here.

The entire Warrior squad, the jump-shooting kings of the NBA, starting the night shooting 49%. The big three, Chris Mullin, Mitch Richmond and Tim Hardaway, were averaging 71 points and shooting 51%. They were making 45% of their three-pointers; if they were one person, he would be No. 4 in the league.

“Hardaway, you’ve got to contain,” Dunleavy said before the game. “You play him like you would Kevin Johnson and Isiah Thomas. If he’s really (making his shots), you’re in for a long night.

“Mullin, you can’t give him any open looks. He’s not quick, but he has a good first step and a variety of shots.

“Richmond’s a guy who can shoot the ball, but he’s a power guy who’ll drive the ball to the hoop.”

Mostly they lived up to their billing. Mullin had 17 by halftime and finished with 27. Hardaway had 14 at the half, but finished with only 22, as did Richmond.

The Warriors led by seven in the first quarter. The Lakers led by seven in the second. The winner was obviously going to be determined by who went cold first but at the half, that was neither team. The Warriors shot 52%, the Lakers shot 55%.

The Warriors were still smoking in the third quarter, but in the fourth, their missiles went awry.

“They scored only 18 points,” Nelson, who was working despite flu, said of the Warriors. “I’m more ill now than when the game started.”