Tarpley Feeling Heat Again : Pro basketball: His run-in with Dallas Coach Dick Motta results in one-game suspension and renews doubts about Maverick center.

If you went on headlines alone on the latest Roy Tarpley incident, then they certainly raised your red flags to half-staff:

--Motta Slaps One-Game Suspension on Tarpley.

--Mavericks Center, Coach Exchange Heated Words.

--Tarpley Displays Questionable Behavior.

Those were the large-type messages that rumbled out of Dallas Wednesday. But none had anything to do with your first impulse.

Sure, Tarpley was angry, and yes, he may have snorted, but not the white stuff.

He was penalized for nothing more than disagreeing with Dallas Mavericks Coach Dick Motta over playing time. Tarpley checked in against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first quarter Tuesday night and was pulled moments later. He glared as he walked past Motta on the Dallas bench. It was the third time in a week that Motta was issued The Stare, and apparently that was three times too many.

They had words. They argued in the Mavericks’ locker room at halftime. And before the third quarter, Motta told Tarpley to go home.

Had Tarpley been any other National Basketball Association player (the New Jersey Nets’ Chris Morris, for example) this would have been passed off as another rebellion-against-authority incident. But this was Tarpley, who’s coming off a three-year ban for refusing to take a drug test. So unless you knew the complete story, your worst fears or suspicions about Tarpley undoubtedly materialized.

Tarpley may be back in the NBA, but he’s on lifetime parole because of his many previous problems, all involving chemical dependency. That means any abnormal signs given by Tarpley automatically will bring suspicion and doubt, whether warranted or not.

He forfeited his right to be anything less than a solid citizen five years ago, when he received the first of his two suspensions for violating the league’s anti-drug program. During his first tour of duty with the Mavericks before the three-year ban, just about every odd signal from Tarpley eventually led to more serious incidents. The missed practices, missed planes and run-ins with Dallas police only covered up the savage work the demons were doing to Tarpley’s NBA career and more important, his life.

During his exile, Tarpley served time in John Lucas’ rehab clinic, played on Lucas’ U.S. Basketball League team of recovered users and then spent two seasons in Greece before the NBA approved his reinstatement in September.

The Mavericks collapsed without him, winning only 23 games the last two seasons, so they were thrilled to welcome him back. Their sympathetic owner, Donald Carter, signed him to a five-year deal worth almost $4 million annually. He arrived in camp with a fresh attitude and although he had not played in an NBA game since Nov. 9, 1990, he felt confident he could “be my old self,” the player who averaged 17 points and 12 rebounds over a two-year span in the late ‘80s.

During camp, Carter was asked if he was being too forgiving regarding Tarpley. He smiled and proved his sanity by pointing to the zero-tolerance drug clause in Tarpley’s contract.

Then Carter said: “Tell you the truth, I probably had doubts about Roy every day when he was gone. I’ll probably continue to have doubts. But I don’t have time to listen to those doubts. To have doubts is to pass judgment and that’s not for me to do.”

It didn’t take Tarpley long to unearth those dormant doubts. During the last few days of camp, in the wee hours one morning, he was ticketed for speeding. Hours later, the same car driven by Tarpley was totaled on a Dallas highway. Tarpley said he loaned the car to a friend, who reported the accident. In both instances, Tarpley was charged with violating nothing except our suspicions.

He’s had his moments on the court, scoring 24 points in only 26 minutes against the Charlotte Hornets last week. But the Mavericks belong to Jamal Mashburn, Jim Jackson and Jason Kidd. They work best as an up-tempo, fast-break team. Tarpley runs the floor well but remains in poor shape, and that’s why Motta rations his minutes.

Instead of working his way into condition, Tarpley worked his way into Motta’s doghouse.

It will be curious to see how Tarpley reacts to this latest, less serious setback. Some teammates worried that Tarpley would respond the wrong way by straying down the wrong path again. Motta gives Tarpley more credit than that.

But like anyone else who has followed Tarpley’s career, Motta has his hidden doubts, too. “He’s a great talent who almost sniffed his life away,” Motta said. “If he’s totally interested in turning his life around, I’ll help him. He’s created his situation and he’s the only one who can improve it. I don’t have any illusions that he has a hard road.

“I don’t want him to slip back into the abyss. If he does that, he’s a poor lost soul.”