Dallas at LA Lakers (December 20) Marquis Daniels returned to action after missing the previous 2 games with a strained neck. The Lakers went up 14-6 with 7 minutes remaining as Kobe Bryant was already up to 8 points and Dallas was struggling on both offense and defense. Consecutive buckets by Dirk Nowitzki did pull Dallas within 17-19 with 3:20 to go, but the Lakers then scored the next 5 points. The Lakers led 25-18 after 1. Dallas shot just 8-26 FG. Bryant had 15 points in the quarter. The Lakers continued to hold a single-digit lead in the 2nd quarter as Dallas could get no closer than 2 points. A 3-pointer by Bryant gave the Lakers their first double-digit lead at 50-40 with 3 minutes left. The Lakers led 53-44 at the half. Dallas shot 36% FG and the Lakers shot 53% FG in the half. Bryant was up to 32 points. To call the 3rd quarter a disaster for Dallas would be an understatement. Nowitzki got whacked in the face after being called for a foul and threw his mouth piece to the ground in anger. Not surprisingly, he got a technical. Avery Johnson also voiced his displeasure and got a technical. Bryant hit the 4 free throws to give the Lakers a 58-44 lead with 10:15 remaining. As the Lakers continued to lead in the teens and Bryant continued to score, Josh Howard whacked Bryant across the neck as he drove and Howard was called for a flagrant. Johnson again voiced his displeasure and was tossed. Bryant hit 2-3 FT (upping his point total to 41 points) to give the Lakers a 68-50 lead with 7:45 to go. And it got worse. The Lakers led 72-57 with 5:50 left and closed the quarter with a 23-4 run, capped by a 3-pointer by (who else) Bryant with a few seconds left in the quarter, to take a commanding 95-61 lead after 3 - with 18 points in the run by Bryant (more than Dallas scored in the quarter). The Lakers out-scored Dallas 42-17 in the 3rd quarter. Bryant himself out-scored Dallas 62-61 through 3 quarters. Marquis Daniels went to the locker room late in the 3rd quarter with an injury and did not return (never found out what it was or how serious it is). The 4th was pure garbage time and Bryant sat the entire quarter. Dallas did close the game with an 11-2 run to make the final margin not as ridiculous. The Lakers won easily 112-90. No question the story of the game was Kobe Bryant. No one Dallas put on him was able to slow him down and he did what ever he wanted. It was a surprise when he actually missed. He shattered Dallas' opponent records for points in a quarter with 30 in the 3rd quarter (was 24) and points in a game with 62 (was 53 in overtime), and he only needed 33 minutes to produce such massive points. 62 is Bryant's new career high. He shot 18-31 FG, 4-10 3-pointers, and 22-25 FT. He also had 8 rebounds and 3 steals. The only negative was that he had no assists, but it would have been foolish for him to have passed the ball in this game. As for the team numbers, Dallas never found a shooting touch and only shot 37% (34-92) FG including 2-15 3-pointers. The Lakers shot 50% (36-72) FG including 6-18 3-pointers. Dallas shot 20-30 FT and the Lakers shot 34-48 FT. Dallas was out-rebounded for the 2nd game in a row. The Lakers out-rebounded Dallas 43-42. The good news for Dallas is that this was their only visit to LA to face the Lakers this season. No other Laker besides Bryant was in double-digits. Lamar Odom had 7 points on 2-7 FG and 2-6 FT and 8 rebounds. Chris Mihm had 9 points and 8 rebounds. Laron Profit had 8 points, but torn his Achilles tendon during the 4th quarter and is likely out for the season. No Mav deserves mention for this egg. Quotes Phil Jackson: "This was a good win for us after a game Sunday night when we were somewhat offensively challenged." Jackson on not playing Bryant in the 4th: "It was a 30-point basketball game at that point, and that's not the spirit of the game. I did ask Kobe if he wanted to go back in and contend for the record. He asked me what I thought, and I said, 'Its a 30-point ball game.'" Jackson on Bryant: "I have seen a few 60-point ball games in my time, but none of them had been done by the 3rd quarter. His 30-point 3rd quarter was incredible." Jackson: "We will just go through a basic practice as a team. Kobe shot 50% from the field, but so did the rest of the team. A lot of people scored for us tonight, top to bottom." Kobe Bryant: "We had difficulty shooting in this building, and that was one of the things we talked about a little bit at shootaround. I wanted to come out and establish to my teammates that we can shoot in this building. We have struggled, but I wanted to come and open up the basket a little bit. I was so frustrated from the last loss that I just tried to will us to victory tonight. It just got to a point where I just wanted to assert myself and wanted to just continue to attack and attack them. Even if they were going to send 2 guys at me, I was going to attack them and let them know tonight I was coming after them and just send a message." Bryant: "It wasn't an 'on feeling'. I have had those feelings before where you feel like you just hit anything you throw up, but tonight was a different feeling. It was just a feeling of willfulness." Bryant: "It was a great feeling to do it here at Staples Center in front of our fans. They have been extremely supportive of us and patient and to be able to give them a show before Christmas, as kind of an early Christmas present, was great to see their reaction and enjoy it with them." Bryant on not playing in the 4th quarter: "Because that is not what we play for. That is not what it is about. The reason why I was able to score 62 points was because I wanted to win so badly. It is not to score 70 points or score 50 points just to score them. We wanted to win the game and the game was in the bag, in the refrigerator, so there was no point for me to go out there and play any further." Bryant on the 3rd quarter: "I did not realize what kind of quarter I was having as far as 30 points. I just went out there and just played, kept on attacking and attacking and just kind of let the chips fall where they may." Bryant on after 3 quarters: "Phil, coming into the timeout, put on the board 'KOBE 62, DALLAS 61' and we all kind of chuckled a little bit. I was not aware of that until I saw it on the board. It was just one of those games." Lamar Odom on Bryant: "His ability is amazing, and his will is amazing." Avery Johnson: "Obviously this game tonight was a very disappointing loss for us, but we deserved to lose. The Lakers came out ready to play - they had a tough loss against the Rockets the last game. You have to take your hat of to them - they were ready to play their coaching staff had them ready to play and I didn't do a very good job with our team tonight. Johnson on Bryant: "Kobe obviously didn't like his performance last game and he didn't like his performance against us in game 1. So he reached down even deeper than he did against us in game 1, and came up with a spectacular performance." Johnson on Bryant: "We had no answer for him. We tried to double-team him, we tried to zone him, we tried to trap him in the backcourt, and nothing worked. He had his way with us tonight." Johnson on Bryant: "He had it all working tonight. It was like he was in the gym by himself working on all of his moves. He got to the free throw line, he made 3s - he just got on one of those incredible rolls and you just don't like being on the other side of it." Johnson on defending Bryant: "We tried everything. We tried different people on him, we tried giving him different looks, and he pretty much out-scored us by himself." Dirk Nowitzki on Bryant: "He found his rhythm early. He was unstoppable. Whatever we did, he shot over us, he got to the basket, he got to the line. He was shooting the ball from the 3-point line. He had everything going tonight. When he gets in a rhythm it's tough to stop." Nowitzki: "He had almost 50 on us last week, so obviously we didn't take it too personal. He had an amazing game. He kicked our butt." Nowitzki on Dallas' defense on Bryant: "We tried to double-team him. In transition, you play him 1-on-4, but if he makes it there is not much you can do about it. It was a tough one tonight, but we have to try and regroup." Nowitzki on his technical: "I stripped [Bryant] clean and he threw his arms up. I got elbowed in the face and get the foul. That was typical." Nowitzki on his technical: "[Bryant] drove, I stripped him clean, he slings his elbow up, and he hits me right in the face and I get the foul. It kind of sums up the night we had." Jason Terry: "We didn't get rattled. The guy had a great game. You have to take your hat off to him and just move onto the next game. We didn't play our best game and thats what we know. We definitely didn't play our best game." Terry on Bryant: "He came out aggressive, which he always does, and he kept it going. He had a great game and what else can you say." Josh Howard on Bryant: "I haven't seen a performance like that unless you're talking about me in high school. Other than that, no. He hit a lot of free throws - he hit just about every shot he took and he was on his game. It was his night and his team's night. We need to turn the page and get ready for Sacramento." Los Angeles Lakers 112, Dallas Mavericks 90 at LA (December 20) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% LA Lakers 25 28 42 17 - 112 .556 .333 .500 .708 Dallas 18 26 17 29 - 90 .416 .133 .370 .667 Halftime: LA Lakers 53-44 3rd Q: LA Lakers 95-61 Technicals: Dirk Nowitzki 10:16 3rd, Avery Johnson 10:16 3rd, Avery Johnson (ejected) 7:46 3rd Flagrant fouls: Josh Howard (level 1) 7:46 3rd Refs: Steve Javie, Leroy Richardson, Olandis Poole Attendance: 18,997 (sellout) Los Angeles Lakers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kobe Bryant 33 18-31 4-10 22-25 62 3-8 0 2 3 3 0 Smush Parker 29 2-7 1-3 2-6 7 0-0 2 3 2 2 0 Lamar Odom 34 2-5 1-1 2-4 7 0-8 3 1 2 1 2 Brian Cook 16 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 1 0 6 0 1 Chris Mihm 25 3-5 0-0 3-5 9 0-8 2 2 4 0 1 Devean George 25 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-5 4 1 3 1 1 Luke Walton 22 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 1-4 5 2 3 0 0 Kwame Brown 16 0-2 0-0 1-4 1 1-4 2 1 0 0 2 Laron Profit 15 3-5 0-1 2-2 8 0-2 0 2 3 0 0 Sasha Vujacic 15 1-5 0-1 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 2 0 0 Andrew Bynum 6 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-1 0 2 1 0 0 Devin Green 4 1-3 0-1 2-2 4 0-0 0 2 0 1 0 Totals 48 36-72 6-18 34-48 112 6-43 19 18 29 8 7 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 27 2-10 2-6 3-4 9 0-0 2 1 2 2 0 Adrian Griffin 20 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 3-4 3 0 3 2 0 Josh Howard 31 3-16 0-3 1-2 7 0-1 1 0 2 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 27 8-18 0-3 2-4 18 4-11 3 1 3 0 1 Erick Dampier 17 1-2 0-0 5-5 7 1-3 1 1 4 1 1 Marquis Daniels 25 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 2-5 1 3 0 1 0 Devin Harris 25 7-14 0-0 4-7 18 0-5 1 5 6 0 1 Keith Van_Horn 24 4-10 0-3 0-0 8 2-6 0 0 3 0 0 DeSagana Diop 17 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 2-3 0 0 5 0 2 DJ Mbenga 10 3-5 0-0 0-2 6 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Josh Powell 8 0-2 0-0 3-4 3 2-4 1 0 0 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 8 3-6 0-0 0-0 6 0-0 1 1 0 1 0 Totals 48 34-92 2-15 20-30 90 16-42 14 13 28 8 5 patricia