ANAHEIM, Calif. -- For the first time since his one-game suspension, Dallas Mavericks forward Roy Tarpley wore a wide smile. Saturday night, after Dallas' victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, Tarpley proclaimed, without prompting:
"I'm a happy man. From now on, I'm going to keep things to myself. I'm not going to lose my cool anymore. . . . I want to be the last person on this team to cause problems. I caused enough of them in the past."
After the Mavericks' Saturday morning shoot-around, Tarpley and coach Dick Motta had a brief talk, then announced a truce in what has been, for much of the season, an icy relationship.
The question is: How long-term is this cease-fire? Although Tarpley promised to be less vocal about his playing time, it also seems clear it will continue to be an issue to the 7-foot forward, spoken or unspoken.
Playing 31 minutes, scoring 21 points and pulling down a season-high 16 rebounds was enough to appease Tarpley on Saturday night, but can Motta deliver 31 minutes every game? The fact is, if not for two fouls on starter Popeye Jones within the first four minutes, and double-digit leads by the Mavericks most of the night, Tarpley probably would have played less.
"Is this what I've got to do to get 31 minutes here?" were the first words out of Tarpley's mouth after the game. "All I wanted to do was play. The more I play, the more I help this team. I've been saying that all along."
Tarpley was smiling when he said that, but the inference was clear. In Tarpley's mind, his production against the Clippers only solidified his point that he should be playing more. But if Tarpley is looking for a guarantee of playing time from Motta, he probably shouldn't.
The same goes for all Mavericks players.
"That's right," Motta said Sunday. "We just go into every game like we started new. Last night, Popeye got into foul trouble. Roy was playing well. That's game-by-game. Something else could happen the next game.
"I've never promised one thing to any person," Motta added. "Except I promise one thing to myself: We're going to bust our [butts] to carry this team properly. There are no promises in this league."
Asked whether he could predict whether his and Tarpley's relationship may have been healed, Motta shrugged: "Is it going to rain today?" he asked. "I don't know."
As Motta talked, he was in a lobby restaurant in the team's hotel in Anaheim, eating calamari and nachos and watching the Steelers-Browns game. Tarpley seemed the last thing on his mind. The rest of this five-game road trip, which continues with a game tonight at Golden State, was his main concern.
"Every game is a new adventure," Motta said. "There's no set plan. You go into every game hoping you can play well enough to win."
After the victory over the Clippers, which improved the Mavericks' road record to 5-2, Motta had said he still doesn't know whether this team is a playoff contender, or just a benefactor of a favorable early-season schedule.
During the next three weeks, the Mavericks have two games against Phoenix, two against Houston, one against Seattle and one against Indiana. That is the biggest reason Mavericks director of player personnel Keith Grant is on the trip, to evaluate and decide whether the Mavericks need to make roster improvements.
"I'll tell you [how good the Mavericks are] two days after Christmas," Motta said. "See how we do against the big boys. We haven't played any of the big boys yet. But we're fun to watch. . . .
"We'll look at our record and see how good we are. I don't relish the idea of playing Phoenix back-to-back, Seattle, playing in a tough place like Portland . . . I think there are only three teams in our conference that are below .500. I'd say that tells you the picture right there."