end the more experienced Lakers prevailed, defeating Dallas in seven games on the way to eventually winning their second consecutive NBA Championship. 1988–1990: Injuries sting Mavs Despite all the changes, the Mavs remained in contention. However, their season effectively ended when James Donaldson went down with a ruptured patella tendon on March 10, 1989 and missed the rest of the season as a result. The Mavericks were left undermanned, demoralized and disheartened as they finished with a 38–44 record, losing the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference via tiebreaker to the Denver Nuggets. It was their first losing season since 1982–83, which was also the last time they missed the playoffs. The Mavericks returned to the playoffs in 1989–90 with a 47–35 record, but it was another season of off-court chaos. On November 15, only six games into the Mavs' season, Tarpley was arrested for driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest. The team started 5–6 and MacLeod was fired, replaced by assistant coach Richie Adubato. The Mavs finished the season with four straight victories to surge into the playoffs, but went down rather meekly to the Portland Trail Blazers in three games. It would be the team's last winning season and last playoff appearance until 2001. 1990–1993: Free-falling The team endured numerous changes in 1990, losing Sam Perkins to the Lakers via free agency and suffering injuries to practically their entire 1990–91 starting lineup. The players they managed to acquire—Rodney McCray, Fat Lever and Alex English—were all in the twilight of their careers. On March 9 it was announced that Fat Lever would have season-ending surgery on his right knee, and that very night, Tarpley suffered a knee injury of his own which ended his season. The Mavericks' season only got worse from there, and they finished with a record of 28–54, the worst in the NBA, falling behind even the second-year Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic. In March 1991, Tarpley was charged with suspicion of driving while intoxicated and was suspended again by the NBA. It got even worse in 1991–92. Before the season even began, Tarpley violated the league's substance abuse policy for the third time and was banned from the NBA for life. The former Sixth Man Award winner's fall from grace was complete. The few talented players the Mavericks had remaining to them were lost to injury. Brad Davis' back problems forced him