THE NBA PLAYOFFS : A 20-20 by Mavericks’ Tarpley Takes Lakers’ Sights Off Sweep

Now that the Lakers have had their brooms snapped in two by the Dallas Mavericks, maybe they’ll think to bring a bottle or two of Windex to the National Basketball Assn.’s Western Conference finals.

Never mind sweeping Dallas. If the Lakers let Roy Tarpley and the rest of the Maverick maintenance crew clean the glass backboards the way they did in a 106-94 Dallas win Friday night at Reunion Arena, they’ll have a deadlocked series on their hands come sundown Sunday.

This was high noon for the Mavericks, who had fired only blanks in two blowout losses in Los Angeles. But after clearing the streets of women and children and Laker big men, the Mavericks blasted a hole in the Laker aura of invincibility--and their own inferiority complex--by outrebounding the Lakers, 52-33, in Game 3.

“They just killed us on the boards,” said Laker guard Byron Scott, who had pumped a few rounds into the Mavericks himself in the first two games but was a scatter-shot 4 for 13 in Game 3, scoring just 11 points. “They showed tonight why they were the best-rebounding team in the NBA--they just never gave up.”

The baby-faced assassin Friday night was the 7-foot Tarpley, who at 23 is the youngest Maverick by five days over bench-warmer Steve Alford. Tarpley blurred Laker visions of a sweep with his own version of a 20/20: 21 points and 20 rebounds, the first 20-20 game in Maverick playoff history.

Tarpley had 20 rebounds in Game 1 and Dallas lost by 15, so clearly he couldn’t have been the whole story. Sam Perkins had 11 rebounds, 7 on the offensive end, and Mark Aguirre grabbed 10 rebounds to go with his game-high 23 points. Even James Donaldson, despite a bloody nose he got in the game’s first minute, came back to make all 4 of his shots from the floor and both of his free throws for 10 points while grabbing 5 rebounds.

Tarpley’s 11 offensive rebounds, however, were one more than the entire Laker team had Friday. And in the fourth quarter, when the Lakers went 5 minutes 51 seconds between baskets, the Mavericks outrebounded the Lakers, 17-5, with Tarpley pocketing more caroms (8) than Minnesota Fats.

The leading Laker rebounder in the last 12 minutes--and it was still a one-point game, 85-84 Mavericks, with 7:41 to play--was Michael Cooper, who doesn’t buy his clothes in Eagleson’s Big & Tall shops. Cooper had two rebounds in the final quarter, which is two more than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had in the second half.

For the night, the Lakers’ leading rebounder was Magic Johnson with 8, which might seem strange until you consider that the Lakers’ only two baskets in the first 9:16 of the final period came from those feared jump shooters, A.C. Green and Mychal Thompson.

Meanwhile, the Lakers missed five free throws in the final period, including two straight clunkers by James Worthy, who led the team with 19 points. Tarpley--who else--rebounded Worthy’s second miss, Aguirre made a 16-footer from the right baseline, and the Mavericks were out of range with a 95-85 lead with 3:50 to play.

“This turned out to be a 7-minute game,” said Laker Coach Pat Riley, alluding to the fact that neither team had led by more than six points through the first three quarters, during which there were 10 ties and 15 lead changes.

“At that point, they just dominated us. Both teams had been digging holes in the trenches, but they just took over physically.”

Maverick muscle-flexing was never more vivid than when they kept possession for nearly a minute and a half and wound up expanding a 90-85 lead to 93-85.

After Johnson, who had 14 points and 10 assists, made 1 of 2 free throws at 5:41, Dallas guard Derek Harper missed a jumper, but Tarpley grabbed the rebound. Worthy, who was busy exchanging headlocks with Aguirre while the Maverick forward was fighting for position, was called for a foul, which put Dallas in the penalty.

Aguirre made the first, missed the second, but guard Rolando Blackman alertly batted the ball to Aguirre in the lane. Harper then was long on a three-point attempt, but there was Aguirre again--flying into the courtside seats to keep the ball from going out of bounds. Blackman shot again and missed, but Mychal Thompson fouled Tarpley while going for the rebound. Tarpley converted both free throws.

Thus, the Mavericks missed three shots, yet wound up scoring three points while running down the Lakers’ trapping defense.

“That just went on and on,” Riley said. “It seemed like 10 minutes.”

To the Lakers on the floor, it seemed like an eternity.

“You try to play defense for a good 24 seconds, then we get it out and run,” Scott said. “They’d play 20 seconds, they’d shoot, and get it back. They’d reel off another 20 more, shoot, and get it back. We forced them to take some bad shots, but you give a team second chances, and usually they’ll score.

“They’re a very explosive rebounding team, and they came together tonight.”

You couldn’t really fault the Laker defense--Dallas shot just 45.2%, the third-lowest shooting percentage in Maverick playoff history. And Johnson said you can’t blame the Laker offense for being outscored, 31-18, in the final period. They just didn’t hold their ground under the basket.

Cooper suggested facetiously that maybe the Lakers ought to activate assistant general manager Mitch Kupchak to aid and abet A.C. Green (4 rebounds), Mychal Thompson (6), Worthy (3) and Kurt Rambis (1 in just 8 minutes).

“Being aggressive gets you to the boards, and aggressiveness carried (the Mavericks) to the rebounds,” Johnson said. “They were all into it. This was almost a do-or-die game for them. They lose, and it’s pretty much over.”

The Mavericks, college-educated as they are, were well aware of that.

“We all have our pride,” said Blackman, whose ego had taken a public battering because of Scott’s dominance in the first two games.

“It doesn’t get to me, because I know I can play with anybody. But in the first two games, L.A. pretty much did everything they wanted to. Every play they tried worked.

“We wanted to show a different side of us. We knew we hadn’t played very well. No one wants to get to this high a level and get blown out, 4-0, because then you’re saying, ‘What’s the deal? Just how good are you?’ ”

Come Sunday, everybody should have a little better idea.