First I'd like to make a disclaimer for some of my past posts: unless Friday's game was an irregularity, the Mavs sound better on the radio than they look in person. I was not impress with the performance and my slowly improving opinion of Buckner slipped back down a lot. With both Sean Rooks and Terry Davis out, the Mavs looked very weak up front. With the exception of Randy White throwing a punch at Vlade Divac and pushing him to the ground, the Mavs were out-muscled all night. I was surprised that the Lakers were never able to really pull away in the first half or start of the third. I guess the Mavs were doing enough things right and the Lakers enough things wrong to keep the game reasonably close. The Lakers lead 49-43 at the half. The game wasn't really exciting and the crowd was pretty dead (except for the group in the cheap seats that were sing, clapping, and doing the Atlanta Braves' Tomahawk [I don't know why]). And then ... I missed the initial contact, but I did see a group of players and saw Randy White's fist fly at someone. They were around the free throw line and the ref bear-hugged Randy and pushed him all the way to the backboard support. Obviously, Randy got tossed for throwing the punch. Vlade Divac, the Laker Randy connected with, did not receive a technical or a foul. The friggen people who control the view screen never showed the replay, so all of us had no idea what happened. Well, the fight woke the crowd and the Mavs up and put some emotion into the game. The Mavs got going for a little bit, but then Buckner put one of his non- productive line ups in (see below) and LA managed to build up a 13 point lead. With a different line up, the Mavs rallied a little and the Lakers led 78-70 after three. The fourth quarter looked like it was going to be a war. The Mavs cut at the Lakers lead and had a chance to pull out a steal. The Mavs pulled with in 1 at 86-85 with 5:21 left. But all good things come to an end. The Lakers increased their D and the Mavs increased their turnovers and missed their shots. Dallas scored only two more points the rest of the game. Final 95-87. The two keys to the loss (warning: Buckner bashing): Jamal Mashburn and Jim Jackson not being able to hang on to the ball at the end of the game. They each had at least two turnovers during the final stretch. Poor coaching. A couple of times, Buckner had a line up that was obviously having problems and not clicking, but he would keep it in for about six minutes with out rotating anyone in. One of those line ups couldn't rebound. There would be three Lakers under the basket going for the rebound and no Mav within sight. And guess who was on the bench? Popeye Jones. Even though he performed well, Fat Lever played far too many minutes (35). His knees can't handle that. The Mavs want Lever to play for another team next year instead of retiring (get his full salary slot that way) and if he feels his knees can't handle another season (or if he reinjures them), he'll probably retire - and it will be Buckner's fault for playing him so many minutes. Tim Legler has shown he can play well when he is given enough minutes and doesn't have to worry about getting pulled when he makes a mistake. Guess how many minutes Legler player? 5. I don't know why Legler isn't getting more minutes and Lever less. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final 2FG% 3FG% TFG% FT% LA LAKERS 25 24 29 17 95 .420 .250 .413 .857 DALLAS 22 21 27 17 87 .446 .375 .439 .750 RB FG FT O-T M-A M-A TO LA LAKERS 22-52 38-92 18-21 17 DALLAS 14-42 36-82 12-16 20 Lakers: George Lynch had a stellar night hitting 10-19 FG and 6-7 FT. He had 26 points, 5 offensive rebounds, and 4 steals in 41 minutes. Elden Campbell also played well with 19 points on 8-15 FG and 3-3 FT and 11 rebounds in 29 minutes. Vlade Divac didn't have much trouble with the Mavs "centers" (White and Smith). He had 15 points on 5-11 FG and 5-7 FT, 19 rebounds, and 7 assists in 40 minutes. Nick Van Exel had 12 points on 5-18 FG, 1-4 3-ptrs, and 1-1 FT and 4 assists in 42 minutes. Sedale Threatt had 11 points on 4-9 FG and 3-3 FT in 29 minutes. Tony Smith had a poor night with 2 points on 1-7 FG in 30 minutes. Surprisingly (to me, at least) James Worthy only played 7 minutes. He had 4 points on 2-6 FG. James Edwards played some key defensive minutes in the 4th. He had 2 points on 1-4 FG in 7 minutes. And everyone's favorite, Kurt Rambis, had 4 points and 4 rebounds in 15 minutes. Mavs: Jamal Mashburn shot well, but it was the poor play at the end of the 4th that stands out. He had 22 points on 10-17 FG, 1-3 3-ptrs, and 1-3 FT, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 turnovers in 38 minutes. Jim Jackson only took 4 shots in the first half (made 2), improved a little in the second; but, as with Mashburn, the turnovers late in the 4th hurt. He finished with 14 points on 6-16 FG, 1-1 3-ptrs, and 1-2 FT, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5 turnovers in 38 minutes. Doug Smith had 14 points on 5-10 FG and 4-4 FT (he's currently shooting 80something % FT) and 8 rebounds in 40 minutes. Popeye Jones had 9 points on 4-8 FG and 1-2 FG and 6 offensive and 10 total rebounds in 28 minutes. Fat Lever had another solid performance (but too many minutes) with 9 points on 4-9 FG, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in 34 minutes. Randy White had 2 points in 12 minutes. He was ejected with 7:10 left in the 3rd. Tony Campbell is turning to be a nice addition. He had 12 points on 4-7 FG and 4-4 FG in 25 minutes. Lucious Harris had 5 points on 2-6 FG and 1-1 FT in 12 minutes. Tim Legler had 0 points on 0-3 FG, 0-2 3-ptrs (at the end of the game) in 5 minutes. Greg Dreiling had 0 points on 0-1 FG in 5 minutes. Donald Hodge had 0 points on 0-3 FG in 3 minutes. More detail on the fight from the paper: White and Divac got tangled while going for a rebound. White pushed Divac back and the threw a punch that grazed Divac. White then pushed Divac to the floor (the ref then bear hugged White). White: "The whistle had blown; I'm thinking the play was done. Instead of him doing the same thing, he tries to cheap-shot me. He tries to throw an elbow." White said that the reason he threw the punch was that Divac lunged toward him. White: "See, I've been trained to get the first lick, so I swung first. He was running at me like he was going to hit me. I'm prepared to defend myself." Divac: "I didn't do anything to provoke him. I just grab the ball. He grab the ball. Then he push me. I went back ... Then, I don't know what went through his mind." As expected, even by Randy, the NBA suspended White for one game and fined him $7,500. He missed the Nuggets game Sunday serving the suspension. Terry Davis did go in for elbow surgery. During the 3 hours and 45 minute surgery, the doctors removed scar tissue, calcium deposits and wiring from his left elbow. He will miss the rest of the season. One of the reasons Terry decided to go ahead and have the surgery now was because of the limited minutes Buckner has been playing him. Buckner and Davis had a one-on-one meeting about a week ago to discuss the minutes thing and Davis did not like/agree with Buckner's explanation. [Similar to problems Buckner had with Derek Harper and Sean Rooks earlier, Terry has yet to feel wanted or needed by Buckner.] Related to the guard situation mentioned above, the Mavs are looking for a guard to fill Davis' roster spot. Many would have expected the Mavs to go after a big body considering the loss of Davis and Rooks (6-8 weeks). Last night's whipping by the Nuggets might have changed their mind back to looking for a big body (don't let the final score of 99-89 fool you, it was a blow-out). The guards mentioned were former Mav and often released Morlon Wiley and former King Jim Les. Les was asking for a full contract for the rest of the season instead of a 10-day [I don't think so.]. patricia