MACLEAN WAS AT HIS BEST\Can Nugget regain his pre-injury form?

Byline: Scott Wolf Daily News Staff Writer

The love-him-or-hate-him persona from UCLA is not nearly as visible in the NBA, but as usual, there is no middle ground for Don MacLean.

Instead of being known for his personality, though, it is the extreme swings in his professional career that are becoming MacLean's trademark.

As he comes off the Denver Nuggets' injured list tonight, MacLean, in just 21 games, has continued the flourish-or-perish approach that characterized his three seasons with the Washington Bullets.

Now healthy, MacLean faces his familiar crossroads. Will he continue the torrid scoring pace he had with the Nuggets just before his injury and remain a strong candidate for the NBA's most improved player award - again?

Or will he disappear back into the Nuggets bench, where he languished early in the season as he adjusted to his new surroundings?

And perhaps most interestingly, can MacLean stay away from the physical altercations that have popped up recently?

One thing has remained constant since his successful days at Simi Valley High School and UCLA: MacLean is as confident, some might say arrogant, as ever about his scoring ability.

"I've always been able to score," MacLean said. "I've always been a good shooter."

Did he ever lose confidence? "No."

It was this hard-nosed attitude that caused Denver Nuggets coach Bernie Bickerstaff to pull the trigger on a trade with the Washington Bullets for point guard Robert Pack.

"The guy's such a competitor," Bickerstaff said. "And teams need that. He reminds me of Tom Chambers. Chambers was a shooter. (MacLean's) a pure shooter."

MacLean's slow start might have made the Pack deal appear lopsided initially. But around mid-December, MacLean found his rhythm and became almost unstoppable.

He tied a career-high with 38 points against Golden State on Dec. 20. Four days earlier, he had 26 points against Cleveland. He led an upset over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden with 19 points, including nine in the fourth quarter. There was also a 20-point effort against the Indiana Pacers.

MacLean went from averaging 8.8 points in November to 15.8 in December and registered career highs in steals and rebounds along the way.

"We had a lot of injuries and I got to play a lot of minutes," MacLean said. "Once I get it going, it all rolls and falls into place."

Then came the injury, a sprained ankle during a loss to the Clippers on Dec. 23. The Nuggets went 3-7 without MacLean.

If he regains his late form, MacLean could actually be a formidable candidate for another most improved player award, which he won in 1993-94 when he averaged 18.2 points for the Bullets.

Of course, to be a candidate, you have to have a pretty miserable prior season. Last year would easily qualify as frustrating for MacLean, when he was sidelined with a pulled thigh muscle, tendinitis in both knees and a fractured thumb.

He missed 43 games and became expendable to the Bullets. MacLean hardly left Washington with poignant memories.

"With all due respect, when you play on a team that really didn't have much success the three years I was there, it's hard to pick out any moments that really leave you with good thoughts," he said. "We won 20 games basically for three years, so most of my great memories and accomplishments did come in college."

MacLean's resilience is now accompanied by a developing reputation as a pugilist. Or at least someone who finds himself involved in a lot of physical altercations.

Just three days before his injury, MacLean was fined $3,500 and suspended for a game after throwing a flagrant elbow at Golden State's Chris Gatling.

MacLean was responding to a flagrant elbow by Gatling to MacLean's mouth, which chipped MacLean's left front tooth. The suspension also cost him a game's salary, a cool $11,280.

The incident was also memorable because Golden State's Tim Hardaway called MacLean a "coward" after the game.

"Hardaway, who's he going to hit?" MacLean said afterward. "All 5-(foot)-6 of him. That's just how Hardaway is. When do we play them next? I don't think anybody will even remember."

During a practice a few weeks before the Golden State game, MacLean and teammate Doug Overton traded - but failed to land - punches. The fight came during a drill in practice when Overton, a guard, switched to MacLean, a forward, as MacLean backed into the lane.

"I thought he cheap-shotted me, and he thought I cheap-shotted him," Overton said. "I guess we were both wrong."

Said MacLean: "That's standard procedure. Stuff happens. Those are no big deal. We'll be laughing about it later."

The pair were also teammates with the Bullets.

"We were trying to fire up the guys around here," Overton joked. "We're good friends. Unless he said something else."

During the 1993-94 season, MacLean fractured his right thumb in a bar fight in Baltimore, in which he said another patron was harassing his date.

UCLA fans will remember his eventful Goodwill Games tryout in 1990, when Colorado's Randy Van Diver punched MacLean in the face after a game, fracturing his cheekbone.

"I hope you're not insinuating I'm a bully," MacLean said. "Stuff like that, it's part of the game."

It is a delicate balance for MacLean, whose play would probably suffer if he toned down his attitude.

"I think I'll be able to come back and play well," MacLean said. "I've worked hard and I like it in Denver. I like the guys on this team."

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Photo (color) Don MacLean, known for swings in both his mood and ability to perform, was fined after this game Dec. 20 for elbowing Golden State's Chris Gatling. Cyrus McCrimmon / Rocky Mountain News Chart HIGHS AND LOWS Don MacLean's career NBA statistics