COOL HAM LUKE : Is Laker Tough Guy Maurice Lucas Real, or Is All That Sound and Fury Memorex?

Maurice Lucas rarely does anything quietly on the basketball court. Quiet is not Lucas’ style. In fact, the most frequent noise involved in his game is the sound of a referee’s whistle.

You can often hear Lucas slap the ball when he gets a rebound for the Lakers. Or you can hear him slap another player’s arm so loud and hard that the fans in the first 10 rows get sympathetic bruises.

Lucas committed such a foul against Dallas Maverick center James Donaldson in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals Sunday. But then Lucas did something completely out of character.

He stepped back momentarily, then walked over and lined up alongside the free-throw lane next to Derek Harper. And then, Lucas laughed.

Could it be that, at age 34, Lucas is finally mellowing?

Will the Lakers’ series with the Mavericks turn into the Maurice Lucas Goodwill Tour?

“You can forget that,� Lucas said. “Nothing serious happened on that play, so I forgot about it. But remember this: I’m here to take care of business. I can’t see the future, but I’m certainly not going to let anybody run me over.�

Some things do not change, and among them is the way Lucas plays basketball. When the Lakers and Mavericks play Game 2 tonight at the Forum, no one will be able to run over Maurice Lucas without paying a price.

Not everyone, of course, appreciates Lucas’ style, among them at least one of the Mavericks. Before the series started, Rolando Blackman said that the Mavericks would not be intimidated by the Lakers, but he expressed the hope that Lucas would “leave his cheap shots at home.�

Blackman may not realize it, but this is exactly the kind of reaction that stimulates Lucas. His intimidation game works at least partly because of his reputation, so he uses it to his advantage.

But Mark Aguirre said he isn’t going to be fooled.

“A lot of it is show,� Aguirre said. “The problem is, you can’t always tell what is and what isn’t, so it continues to be the tough, aggressive Maurice Lucas out there.�

When the Lakers passed on Bill Walton and instead traded for Lucas last summer, they chose toughness over questionable durability. Since Walton landed with the Celtics and has remained healthy, the Lakers may eventually find out--in direct confrontation--if they did the right thing.

If that happens, Lucas knows everyone will be watching them.

“I’m sure it’s going to be Walton and me on the matchup,� he said. “Bill played very well in limited minutes for them. There’s no question about what his ability was or could have been. It was a matter of whether his health could stand up.

“I’ve got hundreds of games over and above what he’s put in in his career, so he’s pretty fresh right now. I’m glad for him. It certainly worked for them because it gives them another big guy in relief of the three other big guys up front.

“They can put him in and not lose a step. That was the key thing that both teams were looking for.�

It seems that the Lakers found what they wanted in Lucas, but their association wasn’t without a few problems in its first year.

For one thing, Lucas’ playing time went down. Way down. He played fewer minutes this season with the Lakers than in any of his previous 10 in the NBA, except for last season when injuries limited him to only 63 games at Phoenix.

There was also the matter of his offense, since the Lakers’ power forward spot is basically a non-scoring position. Lucas, a career 16.5 scorer, averaged 10.2 points in 22.7 minutes a game.

“I think he’s had one of the toughest adjustments of his career,� Laker Coach Pat Riley said. “The power forward is not a scoring position, not because we won’t let him shoot the ball, but we go to James Worthy, Byron Scott and Kareem and then Magic takes whatever’s there.�

Lucas said that it took him awhile to fit into the Laker system. He had to make some major changes in his thinking about the game.

“Because it is a system that has been successful, the one thing I didn’t want to do was rock the boat,� he said.

Rebounding was not a problem. Even though he was not a starter, Lucas became the first Laker not named Kareem or Magic to lead the team in rebounding since 1974-75.

Shooting was a problem. Lucas may be one of the best in the NBA at faking a shot, then driving to the basket for a short jump shot. But with the Lakers, Lucas said he has taken more outside shots than ever before in his career.

“It’s OK, I can shoot that shot, but if it’s not going in, your whole offense suffers,� he said. “There was a time in the season I was befuddled.�

That time has passed, along with the 82-game warmup to the playoffs, which are what Lucas is here for. When General Manager Jerry West signed him to a contract, West said that Lucas told him one thing: “When we get to the playoffs, play me!�

In four playoff games, Lucas is averaging 13.5 points and shooting 64.9%. Kurt Rambis leads the Lakers with 32 rebounds in only 76 minutes, but Lucas is next with 31 rebounds in 101 minutes.

Against the Mavericks in Game 1, Lucas scored 16 points, made 8 of 14 shots and had 8 rebounds in 29 minutes.

Lucas admits that he is neither a good practice player nor a consistently overpowering regular-season player. He said he is unable to motivate himself for 82 games as he can for the playoffs.

“I’ve always been a game player,� he said. “I’m a high-tension type player and I just can’t psych myself up, con myself that many times during the course of the year.�

Since these are the playoffs, though, it must be time for Lucas to be a game player supreme, to do the ultimate psych job on somebody else’s mind as well.

As Aguirre said, when you’re in an escalating battle of aggression with Lucas, you’re never quite sure what is real and what isn’t.

“I remember when I was a rookie and he jumped on my back during a game,� Aguirre said. “I was totally shocked. Nobody in the league had ever jumped on me.

“You know what happened?� Aguirre asked. “Neither one of us backed down and I credit him for that. If he does back down once, then guys will start saying, ‘Well, Luke is faking it. He’s not as tough as he says he is.’ �

His reputation, therefore, may be the best part of Lucas’ intimidation game. He doesn’t always have to say he’s tough because other players will do it for him.

Lest anyone get the idea that he is faking it, here is what Lucas says for himself: “I’ve been in this league a long time. I know how to take care of myself.�

Surprisingly, he said it quietly.