Van Exel on Fire and It’s Mavericks Who Get Burned

Don Nelson was home in Maui, so it was left to someone else to gut the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.

That the job fell to Nick Van Exel was just as well, since he was already filling voids anyway, like his own. His shooting touch, down to 32.9% the previous six outings, returned in the form of eight three-point baskets and 37 points to lead a 102-92 victory before 15,809 at Reunion Arena.

The eight three-pointers tied his team record, set Dec. 13, 1994, also in Dallas with his young son in attendance, and then matched for the first time about 2 1/2 weeks ago in Denver. The 37 points was a season high and three off his career high.

“I said all year that as long as I go well, the team goes well,” Van Exel said. “I’m just trying to keep that consistency going.”

He did the entire trip. In three Laker defeats he was seven of 33 (21.2%) and in the two victories he was 23 of 44 (52.2%).

“There are various ways to win,” Coach Del Harris said, quickly dismissing the trend. “I don’t want to say any one guy has to score for us to win. It just puts too much pressure on them.”

And Van Exel had enough of that already, what with the bulk of his matchup coming against the point guard that he, and many others, considers the quickest player in the league, Robert Pack of the Mavericks. Van Exel’s way around the potential problem was simple.

Don’t race him.

“It’s kind of hard to stop a guy when he’s feeling good and feeling like every shot they take is going in,” he said.

Like Van Exel was feeling Tuesday.

He played the entire first half and then the opening 7:37 of the third quarter, finally coming out for Derek Fisher after missing three shots in a row, what amounted to a huge slump on a night when he went 11 of 20 from the field. But come the start of the fourth period, Van Exel was back in, and back in rhythm.

This was especially important, because the Mavericks were threatening to turn the Lakers’ trip from troublesome to miserable, what with that 71-68 advantage at the end of the third. From there, though, L.A. scored on five consecutive possessions, one a runner by Van Exel, and his eighth three-pointer wasn’t far behind.

That gave the Lakers an 82-75 cushion, soon to become 91-78 with 4:36 remaining. The Mavericks had finally been flicked away, with Van Exel scoring 12 of his 37 in the decisive fourth quarter.

All that remained was breaking the record. No. 8 came with 8:04 left in the game, the third time he has been there, even if he was his only company at the top of the list, and he wanted No. 9. The first try ended when Pack fouled him, so Van Exel had to settle for three made free throws.

A try from the right side missed with about four minutes to go. The next opportunity didn’t come until 20 seconds remained, on a fastbreak at that, a time when most players would dribble out the clock. But Van Exel wanted to get off eight, finally, especially with 6-year-old Nicky again in attendance.

“I did,” he said. “But I was dead tired.”

Forty-four minutes had taken a toll. So when he pulled up and fired from the left side, the ball hit the front of the rim.

Support this time came from Elden Campbell, who had 22 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and one scuffle, the latter of which came as he also fouled out after 30 minutes. He and Shawn Bradley--in a rare aggressive outing of 12 points, a franchise-record 10 blocks and nine rebounds--exchanged shoves under the basket, had to be separated and were both ejected with 2:55 remaining, something of a moot point for Campbell since it came after the sixth foul.

Of greater for the Lakers is what happens next. Campbell could draw a fine from the league, but, with the Houston Rockets up next Friday, he should avoid a suspension because no punches were thrown.

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Peaks and Valleys

Laker guard Nick Van Exel, who tied a team record with eight three-point baskets, has had his share of ups and downs recently. A look: *--*

Date, Opp. Pts FG-FGA (Pct) Ast TO Result Feb. 16, Seattle 16 5-19 (.263) 11 5 loss, 102-91 Feb. 19, Cleveland 9 4-8 (.500) 7 0 loss, 103-84 Feb. 21, Vancouver 17 5-12 (.417) 8 2 win, 99-91 Feb. 23, New York 9 3-13 (.231) 16 2 loss, 127-121 Feb. 25, Houston 2 1-9 (.111) 11 2 loss, 100-96 Feb. 27, Washington 31 12-24 (.500) 12 1 win, 122-107 Feb. 28, Atlanta 4 2-8 (.250) 4 3 loss, 86-75 March 2, Indiana 11 4-16 (.250) 9 3 loss, 101-85 March 4, Dallas 37 11-20 (.550) 2 6 win, 102-92 Per game averages 15.1 .364 8.9 2.7 3-6 Season averages 15.0 .402 8.6 2.7

*--*

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Rockets End Clipper Streak Hakeem Olajuwon had his first triple-double of the season and Matt Bullard was hot from outside as Houston ended the Clippers’ seven-game home winning streak. C4

* RANDY HARVEY

Crowd not disappointing, but wound up disappointed. C2