THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : Warrior Woes Only Worsened When Webber Left

What becomes of the broken-hearted?

Welcome to “The Young and Restless Meet the China Syndrome,” wherein the Golden State Warriors fall out of love and melt themselves down from budding power into burned-out hulk.

Only one word can explain the Warrior plummet and it’s quit. Since Nov. 17, the day they traded Chris Webber, they are 6-28, compared to the woebegone Clippers’ 7-31.

It was plain from Day 1 of the new era when team captain Tim Hardaway, a Don Nelson loyalist, was reported to have stomped angrily past Nellie and ignored his greeting, that Nelson has been in charge of a floating mutiny.

Last week, Hardaway said the season was lost “when two guys could have sat down in a room and talked but didn’t”--blaming Nelson as much as Webber for what happened.

Even before he checked himself into a hospital because of pneumonia and exhaustion, the shaken Nelson had lost his roar and his bite.

Latrell Sprewell and Keith Jennings put Webber’s and Billy Owens’ jersey numbers on their sneakers. Sprewell blew off practices. Once, he dropped completely out of sight and assistant coach Donn Nelson was reduced to broadcasting an appeal over the radio--”Spree, if you can hear me, please get in touch.”

In games, the Warriors milled around and were outhustled as Nelson teams had never been. The mood was as dark as Dracula’s castle. When Chris Gatling, among the few Warriors playing with enthusiasm, punctured his wrist in a kitchen accident, the joke going around was that he’d failed in a suicide attempt.

By last week’s Eastern swing, the jokes were few and far between.

At Chicago, they lost by 22 points after trailing by 39. Hardaway, playing in front of family and hometown friends, came out after the third quarter and stormed to the end of the bench, several chairs removed from everyone else. When Donn Nelson came down to check on him, Hardaway directed a verbal barrage at him.

Afterward, in the dressing room, young Warriors played their stereos and whooped it up as if nothing was wrong.

“It’s ridiculous,” Hardaway growled. “Two or three seasons ago, if we had lost a game like this, guys in this locker room would have been P.O.’d. There might even have been a fight. But there’s no pride in here. No pride.”

At New York, rookie Cliff Rozier was suspended for missing the shoot-around with the new, hot excuse--he overslept. With Sprewell resting a sprained foot and Tom Gugliotta suffering a bruised knee, the Warriors were down to eight players by the second half. Summoning some pride, they chased the Knicks to the wire before losing, 90-87.

At Atlanta, Rozier dressed but didn’t play as the Warriors lost again.

Said Don Nelson: “He got the coach mad and I didn’t think he deserved to play tonight.”

Rozier was a problem child at North Carolina and Louisville and his selection by Nelson, who had always insisted on good people, was a surprise. Nelson even gave him a lot of playing time early.

Said Rozier, clueless: “I don’t know why I didn’t play. He never talks to me. That’s Coach. If that’s what’s best for the team, that’s fine, as long as it’s the same for everybody. Spree got suspended and came back the next night and started. Look around here and you tell me.”

OK, Fido, you’re in the doghouse now. This isn’t Louisville; they don’t have to play you.

Can anyone remember the start of the season when the question was, can they challenge for a title right away or do they have to wait a year?

They’re not as young these days. Webber, 21, is gone. Hardaway, 28, is still trying to come back from major knee surgery. Chris Mullin, 31, sat out 56 games the last two seasons and is up to 40 this season.

Nelson’s friend, George Karl, predicts he won’t return as coach.

Maybe the Warriors can get Ann Landers to replace him.

ALL-STAR FOLLIES: IT’S CRYING TIME

I’m so great, I’m so cool, Why they want To take THAT fool? --Anonymous NBA player

They have a sponsor for everything else during the All-Star game weekend, how about getting Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo to sponsor the No More Tears Crying Competition?

This year we have a truly impressive assortment of players who were cheated, one or two of whom actually were:

Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn--Can you imagine stiffing the Nos. 4 and 6 scorers in the league? J.J. is scoring more, shooting a better percentage and is better rounded than the one-dimensional Mashburn and has a real complaint.

But the voters interrupted Sprewell’s period of mourning to honor him and tabbed Mr. Hunk, Dan Majerle, too, leaving the coaches only three slots for actual All-Stars: John Stockton, Mitch Richmond and Gary Payton. Cheated along with Jackson were Rod Strickland and perhaps even Nick Van Exel.

If you want to know who the real guys are, see how they handle this petty stuff.

Said Jackson: “I know my time will come.”

Derrick Coleman and Kenny Anderson--It was a bad day for the self-styled Karl Malone and John Stockton of the East.

Sure enough, the coaches left Coleman off in favor of good citizens Vin Baker and Tyrone Hill, who may be assigned to wear a sign onto the floor, saying “How are you enjoying it so far, D.C.?”

Said the never-contrite Coleman: “I’m the best (power forward) of all. People in basketball know who the best players in this league are.”

So who was that who voted, the coaches’ wives?

Dikembe Mutombo--As usual, he’s mad as hell and he’s not going to take it any more. “All I can do is just tell the league to go to hell,” Mutombo said. “I’ve been telling them. I hope they’ve been in hell already.”

Someone had better take this guy’s temperature. All-Star squads normally take two centers. Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson play in the West.

Derek Harper--Somehow the Knicks decided that since he had never been an All-Star, and since he was a good player, not to mention a good guy, he was entitled.

This was supposed to qualify a guy averaging 12 points and shooting 44% over Dana Barros, averaging 20 and shooting 51%?

Said Pat Riley, the old campaigner: “(Harper) is probably the best player ever to play the game to not be voted to an All-Star game.”

Proving he really is a classy guy, Harper took it in stride. “It doesn’t bother me at all,” he said.

John Starks--The same can’t be said of the Knicks’ tightly wound shooting guard, who must believe that shooting 30% for nine weeks doesn’t disqualify him.

Said Starks: “No comment.”

Muggsy Bogues--He has proven he can play in this league but that must not be good enough because the Charlotte smurf is disappointed too.

“I guess the things like steals, assists, assist-turnover ratio don’t mean anything in this league,” he said. “I’m still being disrespected.”

LEARNING THE GAME FROM THE GROUND UP

Few rookies are as overmatched as Yinka Dare, the raw, young African import who left George Washington as a sophomore and has played three minutes since.

General Manager Willis Reed of the New Jersey Nets, who coached Benoit Benjamin in college and traded for him in the NBA, now has $5.9 million in annual salary for his deadwood centers with Benjamin ($3.8 million), Dwayne Schintzius ($1.2 million) and Dare ($900,000).

Reed passed up Wesley Person, who would have been the shooting guard the Nets need, to take Dare and that’s not going down well, either.

Dare was supposed to undergo knee surgery last week but failed to report. The Nets sent a limo for him, but Dare had changed his phone number and didn’t answer the door. You guessed it, he overslept.

You can’t say his rookie year has been a total waste, however.

On the bench last month, Dare asked Jayson Williams what the C on Christian Laettner’s jersey stood for.

Said Williams: “It stands for Caucasian.”

FACES AND FIGURES

The perfect gift for the big guy: The Detroit Pistons hung Bill Laimbeer’s No. 40 jersey on the wall in the Palace of Auburn Hills on Saturday. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in it. Just kidding. Curmudgeon or not, Laimbeer was a relentless competitor who did everything in his power to win, and if players of today are safer now that he’s gone, there was something admirable about him. . . . What did Grant Hill do to deserve being the top All-Star vote-getter? He played 25 games, averaged 18 points, five rebounds and four assists. Said Hill: “I’ve thought about it and maybe some of it has to do with going to Duke and the successes we had there. And I know, too, that people look at me as a nice guy. You like to think they vote for you because of pure talent, but I know it’s not just that.”

Shaquille O’Neal ended his media boycott at 10 days and, always eager to avoid controversy, denied being upset with game officials. “I just needed a couple days off,” he said. “I wasn’t mad at anyone.” Close friend Dennis Scott, however, said Shaq was mad, all right. “People try to criticize him for being a crybaby superstar,” Scott said. “But he’s being punished for his God-given ability, strength and size. If he gets fouled on every play, he should go to the line on every play.” Comment: If they think this is abuse, wait till the playoffs when Riley lines up Anthony Mason, Charles Oakley, Herb Williams and anyone else he can afford to lose on O’Neal, lets them commit six fouls apiece and dares Shaq to beat him from the free-throw line.

Taking permanent possession of the Chutzpah Award: The Hornets offered $65 million to buy Charlotte Coliseum from the city, claiming they need more revenue. Said team President Spencer Stolpen: “We don’t have the revenue stream to keep up with the way salaries are going up.” Who was it who exploded the entire league’s salary structure, renegotiating Larry Johnson’s contract three years before it expired and giving him an $84-million deal? Who plans to give Alonzo Mourning a $100-million extension three years before his deal is up?

Speaking of disrespect, the Houston Rockets are trying to ease point guard Kenny Smith out of Sam Cassel’s way again. “There’s never been a great deal of confidence or love or appreciation of what I do, so I’m not surprised at what happened,” Smith said. Just what is it he does? Smith ranks 30th in the league in assists. Ahead of him are 21 starting point guards plus two reserves, Miami’s Khalid Reeves--and Cassell. . . . Oh, captain, my captain? Denver interim Coach Gene Littles tried to simplify his rotation by phasing out Reggie Williams, who reacted by resigning as co-captain. This means that in three weeks, the Nuggets have lost their coach and a captain.