Dallas at LA Lakers (March 4) Dallas was without Michael Finley due to a left calf contusion so the Mavs trotted out a new starting lineup with Jerry Stackhouse and Shawn Bradley starting. The Lakers scored 7 straight points to go up 17-10 with 5:15 remaining and the Lakers' lead see-sawed between 7 and 5 points over the next 3 minutes. Dallas scored the last 4 points of the quarter. The Lakers led 25-21 after 1. Dallas scored the first 5 points of the 2nd quarter to go up 26-25 with 11 minutes to go, but the Lakers then scored the next 8 points to go up 33-26 with 8:15 left. The Lakers led 39-31 with 6:15 remaining and Dallas went on a 9-2 run to pull within 40-41 with 4:20 to go. The Lakers held a small lead until Dirk Nowitzki hit 2 free throws with a couple of seconds left in the half to tie the game at 52-52. Dallas was shotting poorly, but got back in the game thanks to taking the ball inside, some friendly whistles, and some dumb fouls by the Lakers as the Mavs shot 16-17 FT in the 2nd quarter - 10 of Dallas' free throws came after the Lakers got in the penalty with 5:20 left. For the half, Kobe Bryant had 18 points. Dallas shot 36.5% FG and The Lakers shot 49% FG, including a poor 1-11 3-pointers. After the Lakers scored the first 5 points of the 3rd quarter and then Dallas scored the next 5 points, the game stay very tight the rest of the quarter as there were 8 ties and 7 lead changes in the last 10 1/2 minutes of the quarter and neither team led by more than 4 points. Dallas led 81-80 after 3. The game remained close in the 4th quarter and was again tied at 91-91 with 5:30 to go. The Lakers went on a 6-1 mini-run to go up 97-92 with 2:15 remaining. 2 free throws by Bryant gave the Lakers a 104-98 lead with 40 seconds left. Dallas missed on 2 attempts, but got the ball out of bounds and Nowitzki nailed a 3-pointer with 23 seconds to go to pull Dallas within 3 points. Dallas intentionally fouled and Caron Butler hit 2 free throws with 22 seconds left. After a timeout to advance the ball up court (Dallas' last timeout), Darrell Armstrong got the cross-court inbounds and stepped back behind the arc and Jumaine Jones stupidly flew at him and Armstrong smartly threw the ball up as contact was made to get to the line for 3 attempts. But he missed the 1st free throw, but did hit the next 2 to again make it a 3 point game. Bryant was intentionally fouled after the inbounds and he made both free throws with 18 seconds remaining. Jason Terry missed a 3-point attempt with 11 seconds left and neither team would score in the wanning seconds. The Lakers won 108-103. Dallas did play better than they had in the past 2 games, but their shot simply was not falling. The Lakers did try to help out by missing a ton of free throws and even more 3-pointers. Despite shooting 1-18 3-pointers, the Lakers shot 51.9% (42-81) FG for the game - that was helped by their shooting 65% 2-pointers. Dallas only shot 38.8% (33-85) FG including 2-10 3-pointers. The Lakers shot 23-35 FT and Dallas shot 35-40 FT. Adding to Dallas' woes was getting out-rebounded 47-38 including 13-12 offensive - when you are shooting so poorly, you need to be aggressive on the offensive boards. The teams were clean with the ball as the Lakers had 12 turnovers and Dallas had 9 turnovers. It was a tight game throughout as the Lakers' largest lead was 8 points and Dallas' largest lead was 4 points and there were 17 ties. The win snapped the Lakers' 4 game losing streak. The good news for Dallas is that their recent struggles will likely have no affect on their playoff seed as they are basically locked into the #4 seed in the West. The only way they could move above #4 is to have a better record than the Spurs (division winners get #1-3 seeds) and Dallas has 6 more losses than the Spurs - very tough to overcome with just 8 weeks left in the season. And Dallas has a large lead over the current #5 seed as the Kings have 5 more losses than Dallas and are struggling (current #6 and #7 Memphis and Houston both have 6 more losses). Kobe Bryant had a great game with 40 points on 13-27 FG and 14-16 FT, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. He had 14 points in the 4th quarter. He hit 2 circus shots that had no right going in. Caron Butler had 20 points and 3 steals. Lamar Odom had a double-double with 18 points on 8-10 FG and 2-6 FT and 11 rebounds. The refs let him get away with a lot of camping in the paint - on one play, I started counting and got to 8 with Odom never clearing the paint before the Lakers made a basket. Chucky Atkins had the Lakers' only 3-pointer and struggled with his shot as he shot 3-9 FG and 1-6 3-pointers for his 7 points, but he did have 10 assists. Chris Mihm had 10 points and 5 rebounds and Jumaine Jones had 4 points on 2-8 FG, 0-5 3-pointers, and 0-2 FT and 8 rebounds. The Lakers kept defensive focus on Dirk Nowitzki and he never really got his game going. He did do a better job of going after rebounds in this game and had a couple of aggressive ones. He had 23 points including 8-10 FT and 13 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse struggled with his shot all night, but got to the line enough to have a high point total. He had 19 points on 4-15 FG and 11-11 FT. Marquis Daniels had a nice game off the bench with 18 points and 7 rebounds including 4 offensive. Jason Terry had 12 points and 6 assists. Josh Howard struggled with his shot and had 10 points including 4-12 FG and 4 rebounds. Shawn Bradley had 6 points on 3-4 FG and 2 rebounds in his 17 minutes. Keith Van Horn struggled mightily in missing his first 8 shots, but did make his last 2 shots with both coming in the 4th quarter. He had 8 points. Alan Henderson had 3 points and 3 rebounds in 16 minutes and Darrell Armstrong had 4 points on 4-5 FT in 5 minutes. Dallas was also without Devin Harris as he sat out with a sprained left ankle. Quotes Frank Hamblen: "Well, obviously this was a nice win for us; we needed a win desperately. And to beat an outstanding team like Dallas I'm sure really helped our guys. Even though they scored 103 points, they only shot 38% - our field goal percentage of our opponents has been down as of late, that's good." Hamblen: "We had a lot of trouble against their zone, we couldn't get to our spots. We devoted a lot of time to their zone, but our guys were unable to carry it. It was quite a 3-point shooting exhibition, we were 1-18 and they were 2-10." Hamblen: "No question that you play better at home than you do on the road. I think your bench plays better overall at home more than they do on the road. But, those teams we played were pretty hot, they had 1, 2, or 3 in a row, and were feeling pretty good about themselves." Hamblen: "We had a lot of good performances, Kobe of course 40 points. Caron Butler I thought played very well, Lamar Odom played very well. Chris Mihm, even though he only played 20 minutes - that's all we could play him because Nelson likes to go small a lot - gave us 10 points and 5 boards in 20 minutes. Luke came in and did a nice job." Kobe Bryant: "It was a big motivational factor for us; we knew it was a big game. We had to come out in pretty much a must win situation against a great team, and we were able to pull it off." Bryant: "I think we have learned from the close battles that we've had, how to execute, where to execute, and how to pick teams apart. We are starting to think the game more so when it comes down to the stretch we are not guessing to what works. But from the momentum of the game we know it's going to work." Lamar Odom: "We just came out, executed offensively, and did a good job attacking those guys as a team tonight. We played good team defense tonight down the stretch, and it was able to get us a win." Odom on Bryant: "It doesn't matter where he's at - he's going to score. He's what you call a dynamic player. He can take anyone to the basket. I think it was great that he had a good scoring game, but most of all, that we beat a good team." Odom on Bryant: "I remember one play where he was running through the lane and he was so focused on the ball, and I knew he was going to score. He had in his mind that he was going to do whatever he had to do to win this game. He's what you call a dynamic player." Odom: "We needed this one. It was our longest losing streak of the season. It was time for it to end." Caron Butler: "I think home court has a lot to do with it. Guys are starting to become more accustomed to the offense. We watched the tape of the 92-93 Chicago Bulls this morning at shoot around. We watched how they executed the triangle, and saw a lot of good things they did out of it and we interpreted it tonight." Butler: "We did a great job protecting the paint. We saw the way the Clippers did a good job playing against them and we played the same way. That's why we were successful and won the game." Chucky Atkins: "Communication and help on defense, that was the key. Everybody was effective." Don Nelson: "We fought hard, played hard - I don't think we finished around the basket well enough to win. Bottom line is when they shoot 50 and you shoot 30, that means you're probably not going to win on the road." Nelson: "We stayed close enough to be in the game. And if we made some shots at the right time we could have won the game. Whether we had the lead or not, I thought the opportunity was there." Nelson: "I thought we played better basketball than we did the game before. Our focus seemed to be better. ... We played close enough to win the game, and if we'd made some shots at the right time we could have won it." Nelson on the Lakers' defense on Nowitzki: "They played him well. They played him close and tough, and didn't let him go. He wasn't getting calls, so it was a tough night for him." Dirk Nowitzki: "I never really got into the game." Jerry Stackhouse: "We came out tonight in the right frame of mind. But we had a lot of missed calls and a lot of missed layups. It's on us. We missed point-blank shots." Stackhouse: "We played 2 desperate teams and they were hungrier than we were. We've just got to find a way to get our edge back. 2 tough losses and we have another tough road game in Houston. I hope we can salvage something from this road trip and get a win in Houston." Marquis Daniels: "We had guys staying with their picks a little longer and it opened up the lanes for me. We needed to finish some of those shots around the basket to win this game. We missed a lot around the basket, and if we finish those, it is a different game." Los Angeles Lakers 108, Dallas Mavericks 103 at Los Angeles (March 4) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% LA Lakers 25 27 28 28 - 108 .651 .056 .519 .657 Dallas 21 31 29 22 - 103 .413 .200 .388 .875 Halftime: 52-52 3rd Q: Dallas 81-80 Technicals: none Refs: Ron Garretson, Marc Davis, Mark Ayotte Attendance: 18,997 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Michael Finley (left calf contusion) Los Angeles Lakers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kobe Bryant 43 13-27 0-4 14-16 40 2-8 6 3 3 2 2 Chucky Atkins 38 3-9 1-6 0-0 7 0-1 10 2 3 0 0 Lamar Odom 39 8-10 0-2 2-6 18 3-11 2 1 5 0 0 Caron Butler 33 8-14 0-0 4-6 20 1-4 2 3 5 3 0 Chris Mihm 20 4-7 0-0 2-3 10 3-5 2 1 0 0 2 Jumaine Jones 26 2-8 0-5 0-2 4 2-8 2 0 3 0 2 Luke Walton 18 2-3 0-1 1-2 5 2-3 2 1 2 0 0 Brian Grant 11 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-4 0 0 1 0 0 Brian Cook 6 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 2 1 1 Stanislav Medvedenko 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-3 0 0 2 0 1 Totals 48 42-81 1-18 23-35 108 13-47 26 12 26 6 8 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jerry Stackhouse 34 4-15 0-2 11-11 19 0-3 1 1 2 2 0 Jason Terry 30 5-8 1-2 1-1 12 0-2 6 1 3 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 42 7-17 1-3 8-10 23 3-13 3 0 5 1 1 Josh Howard 39 4-12 0-1 2-2 10 2-4 1 3 2 0 1 Shawn Bradley 17 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 1-2 0 0 4 1 1 Marquis Daniels 31 7-18 0-1 4-6 18 4-7 2 2 2 2 0 Keith Van_Horn 26 2-10 0-1 4-4 8 2-4 0 0 1 1 0 Alan Henderson 16 1-1 0-0 1-1 3 0-3 0 1 2 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 5 0-0 0-0 4-5 4 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 33-85 2-10 35-40 103 12-38 14 9 22 7 4 patricia