The bad news: Coach Motta has suspended Roy Tarpley without pay. Motta, owner Donald Carter, and director of player personnel Keith Grant will meet with Tarpley today (Wednesday) to determine the length of the suspension. Tarpley has been upset about his playing time. When Motta pulled him towards the end of the 2nd quarter after 7 minutes of playing time (and 2 horrendous passes), Tarpley glarred at Motta and was mumbling to himself as he walked passed Motta. Motta started yelling at Tarpley and Tarpley yelled back. The words reportedly were not fit for publication. Apparently, things got worse during the halftime intermission and Motta suspended him on the spot. Tarpley did not return after halftime. After the game, Motta said that Tarpley had been suspended for "conduct determental to this club." It has been officially listed as insubordination. Radio KLIF courtside reporter Frasier Maxwell was the only person to talk to Tarpley as he was leaving the arena (while the 4th quarter was going on). Tarpley: "He tried to kick me out of the locker room. He told me not to challenge him or he would get rid of me. I'm disapppointed and frustrated. I'm just here to play basketball." Tarpley also said that he is very confused about the situation (and he did really sound confused - he didn't sound angry). Instead of joining everyone else and giving Tarpley a hard time, I'm going to be a little different and say that I understand where he is coming from. That doesn't mean that I condone his misconduct with the coach nor that the suspension was inappropriate. Tarpley has been getting about 20 minutes a game and performing good most of the time (although he has had some doozies) but Donald Hodge has been getting more minutes and Hodge has not looked good, to put it mildly. Even when Hodge has looked bad during a game, Motta leaves him in or subs in Lorenzo Williams or even Terry Davis (who should be getting more playing time than Hodge, IMHO) while Tarpley sits on the bench. I'll make an easy predicition and say that Tarpley will not be with the team by the season's end. Motta does not want any sour apples and Carter wants to keep Motta happy, as well as not have any bad influences on the youngsters. I'll also make another prediction - he will still be with the team by the new year. The Mavs won't get value for him right now and he is going to be a difficult player to trade (6 year contract). No, to anyone who thought the strange thought, Tarp for Rodman will not happen. At age 30, he would probably go to a contending team for a big body. The only interesting trade I could think of (not to much time spent on the subject) was Tarpley to New York for Charles Smith, who also has a long term contract and can play some time at center (though not too much). Man, do I really wish that they hadn't traded Rooks away. The good news: Jamal Mashburn was named NBA Player of the Week. Jamal averaged 36.7 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds as the Mavs won two of three games. The game: LA Lakers at Dallas (on TNT) Well, we've had the good, the bad, and now it's time for the ugly. The 1st quarter was nasty looking. Jason Kidd had a couple of turnovers before he lost control driving, got bumped by Vlade Divac, and landed on his elbow. He went to the locker room for the rest of the quarter. The good news was that the x-rays showed nothing wrong and he returned from the 2nd quarter. The bad news was the rest of the 1st quarter. The Mavs looked sloppy on offense, lousy on defense, and the Lakers snatched up 11 steals - tying an NBA record for steals in a quarter. The Laker's trap was just eating the Mavs alive. Dallas also had 11 turnovers in the quarter. I still don't know how the Mavs were only down by 9 at the end of the quarter. 33-24 LAL 2nd Q: This quarter just shows you want a different team the Mavs are with the 3 Js in there. Kidd started the quarter and had a wrap on his elbow (strained ligaments in the elbow). The Lakers started the quarter building up a 15 point lead. Then the Mavs came back with a 27-9 run and took a 5 point lead. This was fun to watch (not for the Laker fans, though)! The Mavs were running fast breaks, playing good D, getting the ball to the open man, and playing unselfishly. The teams played each other pretty evenly the rest of the quarter, with a couple of small rallies here and there. It was 58-56 LAL at the half. Nick Van Exel had 18 points including 3 3-pointers, Eddie Jones had 11 points and 4 steals, Jamal Mashburn had 19 points, Popeye Jones had 10 points, and Jason Kidd had 5 assists in the first half. Dallas was shooting 57% FG and the Lakers 44%. 3rd Q: Fun to but not to much to report. The teams played each other pretty closely and the games was tied at 85-85 going into the 4th. 4th Q: The game looked like it was going to go down to the wire. The Mavs would build a 4 point lead, then the Lakers would take the lead. It stayed close most of the quarter. The game was tied 96-96 with under 7 minutes left. Then the Lakers fell in love with the number 3. Divac got the basket and the foul (who else but Hodge) and converted the 3 point play. The Mavs got the Laker lead down to 2, then the bombing began. Van Exel swished a 3 with Kidd in his face, the Mavs got 2. Threatt nailed a 3, the Mavs got 2. Everytime the Mavs seemed ready to make their run, the Lakers would drain a 3. Van Exel shot 4-6 3-pointers in the quarter - 2 of them with players playing good D and right in his face. The Lakers won 115-108. The refs weren't calling anything. That could be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. For me, it meant a lot of screaming at and talking to the TV. Players on both teams were getting mauled around the basket. The Laker's trap often had non-called fouls. Donald Hodge could have been called for hand checking Divac every time down the court. I've said it before, I'll probably say it again many times, the Mavs need a center. Divac was just having his way against Hodge and Williams. Hodge can not defend and Williams does not have the muscle. Elden Campbell also took advantage of his 3 inch height difference on Popeye and had a good game. [That ends the Hodge bashing for the night - I'm being nice and not mentioning his shot selection.] Nick Van Exel was unconcious. Just call him the mad bomber. 8-16 3-pointers. Some players would be thrilled to have that stat for field goals. He was nailing threes with players in his face (and I do me in his face). Motta described his game last night as an "All-Star performance". He finished with 35 points and handed out 10 assists. Eddie Jones looks to be a solid rookie (not new news, but nice to see it myself). He had a power putback that you couldn't help but drool over. He finished with 19 points and 6 steals. Jamal Mashburn made some unselfish dishes on fast breaks (and Jamal normally has a tendency to try taking it in himself). He had an excellent night with 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists. Jim Jackson started slow and finished strong. He had only 2 points in the first quarter and end up with 28 points on 12-18 FG. He is currently still 2nd in the league in scoring. Popeye Jones had a career high 21 points including 10-13 FG, an average rebounding game with 11 rebounds, and dished out 5 assists. As usual, if you look at Kidd's stats, it looks like he had a bad game. But, the Mavs would have even been in the game if it wasn't for Kidd. He finised with 4 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, and 8 assists. Have I mentioned yet that this was a fun game to watch? Of course, it would have been better if the Mavs won. The really nice thing about it was that it was televised nationally (well, cable) and people got to see what fans of both teams are so excited about. 1 2 3 4 Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% LA Lakers 33 25 27 30 - 115 .500 .458 .489 .778 Dallas 24 32 29 23 - 108 .575 .364 .548 .750 Team Rebounds: LAL 3, Dal 4 Technicals: 2 LAL illegal D, 2 Dal illegal D Officials: Jim Clark, Hue Hollins, Woody Mayfield Attendence: 15,150 Rebounds LA Lakers Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS OFF DEF TOT AST PF St TO Blk Cedric Ceballos 37 8-19 0-2 1-1 17 5 5 10 1 4 4 5 0 Elden Campbell 41 6-15 0-0 2-5 14 2 2 4 4 3 1 2 1 Vlade Divac 35 6-9 1-1 2-2 15 5 3 8 2 6 2 3 4 Eddie Jones 30 7-14 1-3 4-4 19 2 1 3 0 4 6 1 2 Nick Van Exel 43 12-24 8-16 3-3 35 0 4 4 10 1 3 1 0 Sedale Threatt 28 2-4 1-1 1-2 6 0 4 4 5 2 1 2 1 Anthony Peeler 6 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 Antonio Harvey 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 George Lynch 11 2-4 0-0 1-1 5 2 2 4 0 0 2 2 0 Sam Bowie 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 240 45-92 11-24 14-18 115 16 22 38 22 23 20 17 8 Rebounds Dallas Min FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS OFF DEF TOT AST PF St TO Blk Jamal Mashburn 45 12-20 1-4 7-10 32 6 5 11 6 2 3 5 1 Popeye Jones 37 10-13 0-0 1-2 21 3 8 11 5 3 1 2 0 Lorenzo Williams 19 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 5 7 2 1 0 1 0 Jason Kidd 38 2-8 0-2 0-0 4 1 3 4 8 1 4 4 0 Jim Jackson 40 12-18 2-3 2-2 28 1 2 3 4 2 1 4 0 Lucious Harris 15 3-4 0-0 2-2 8 0 1 1 0 1 0 2 0 Morlon Wiley 6 2-3 1-2 0-0 5 1 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 Donald Hodge 29 3-9 0-0 0-0 6 2 2 4 1 3 0 4 0 Roy Tarpley 7 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 0 4 4 1 2 0 2 1 Terry Davis 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Totals 240 46-84 4-11 12-16 108 16 32 48 29 17 9 24 2 patricia