NBA Nicks Lakers

DALLAS —  Nick Van Exel sounded shocked, so he didn’t want to say much.

“I don’t know,” he said, searching for the right words and trying to avoid others. “I’ve got to think before I speak.”

The Lakers sounded angry, so they purposely didn’t say much.

“We’ve very disappointed with the decision and disagree with it, but we will abide by the league’s ruling,” Executive Vice President Jerry West said.

The halted statements were loud proclamations. The NBA, reacting to a pair of fourth-quarter scuffles the night before at San Antonio, on Tuesday fined Van Exel $10,000 and suspended him two games without pay, starting with the Lakers’ 111-95 victory over the Dallas Mavericks at Reunion Arena a few hours later, leaving the organization and the player at various times stunned and furious.

That Monty Williams of the Spurs was also penalized two games and $5,000--or that Shaquille O’Neal and San Antonio’s Will Perdue and Reggie Geary got hit for $5,000 each for their roles--did nothing to soothe the Lakers. They couldn’t help but feel Van Exel was paying for past transgressions, even this late in a season when his emotional strides have been such a positive, to where he had been called for only two technical fouls in 62 games before Monday.

They couldn’t help but feel, more plainly, that it was a terrible decision because Van Exel threw a shoulder at Williams and not a punch.

That West spoke out publicly against the league at all, even in an 18-word clip, was the most telling commentary, given his past strong law-and-order stands.

Said General Manager Mitch Kupchak of the West statement: “That speaks well for how we feel. We’re just going to let it sit right there. That’s all we’ll say.”

In Los Angeles, maybe.

“Karl Malone has put two guys out in the last two weeks [Donyell Marshall and David Robinson] and received a one-game suspension,” Coach Del Harris said. “Apologetically, because he ‘didn’t even mean to do it,’ according to what the official statement said.”

Added Derek Fisher, who had 17 points, nine assists and eight rebounds against the Mavericks: “That [the penalty] is hard for me to figure out and hard for a lot of guys to figure out. There weren’t any punches thrown.”

In an unusual move, NBA Senior Vice President Rod Thorn would not publicly discuss how he and Commissioner David Stern decided on the discipline. But league sources, well aware of the Lakers’ anger, insisted this had nothing to do with Van Exel, only what Van Exel had done. Namely:

* The all-star point guard instigated the second fight by throwing his shoulder into Williams’ chest as Williams and Kobe Bryant were jawing near midcourt. When the resulting skirmish spilled into the first couple rows of seats, that was enough, as expected, to make it a major incident even if no punches were thrown.

* Van Exel, ejected with 4:02 remaining in what was already a rout and became a 99-75 Laker victory, gave a single-finger gesture to fans as he exited the court and headed for the locker room. That accounted for the $5,000 difference in the fine compared to Williams. The lost money for the two games comes to $46,341.

O’Neal had been called for a flagrant foul, but his $5,000 hit was for participating in the Williams-Van Exel-Bryant altercation, even if O’Neal denied any such role. Geary’s fine was for the same reason.

The flagrant foul, however, stayed with the Lakers.

“When you run into a brick wall and you’re unstable, you’re going to fall off,” O’Neal said of his collision with, coincidentally, Geary. “He fell off.”

Added Harris: “If a Volkswagen hits an 18-wheeler, the Volkswagen is going to end up on the short end. But that doesn’t make it any more the 18-wheeler’s fault.”

Come Tuesday night, the big rig rolled to 34 points and seven rebounds as the Lakers won their last regular-season game away from the Great Western Forum, improving to 28-13 on the road and giving them the best record in that category for the first time since the 1989-90 season.

“We just don’t have an answer for Shaq,” Dallas Coach Don Nelson said. “Maybe we never did. He’s just too strong for anybody that I have. He’s awesome. They’re very good. They’re one of the most dominant teams we’ve played all year.”

Michael Finley had a triple-double for the Mavericks, finishing with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

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Sampling of Suspensions: 1997-98

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G Reason Player (Team) Year Attacking coach Sprewell (Golden State) 3 Fighting Williamson (Sacramento) Spitting Rider (Portland) 2 Illegal cellular phones, Rider (Portland) Marijuana, fighting Van Exel (Lakers) 1 Off-court activities Iverson (76ers) Fighting/Leaving bench O’Neal (Lakers), Brown (Miami), Coleman (Philadelphia), Kemp, Potapenko, Scott (Cleveland) Flagrant foul/Elbowing Oakley (New York), Miller (Indiana), Malone (Utah)

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Sampling of Suspensions: 1997-98