# GT: Dallas Mavericks @ Los Angeles Lakers



## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

*Dallas Mavericks [47-28] @ Los Angeles Lakers [51-24]*
 | Friday, April 04 2008 | Los Angeles, California | Staples Center | 10:30 pm ET | 
| *TV*: ESPN | *Radio*: KESN-FM 103.3


*Game Notes*

They’re both offensive-minded, game-changing 7-footers, but lately Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki had simply been two tall spectators in street clothes.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks were more than happy to see them back in uniform Wednesday.

One game after both teams got their star big men back in the lineup, Los Angeles will host Dallas on Friday night with each looking to improve its standing in the Western Conference playoff race.

Gasol got hurt two minutes into the Lakers’ 108-98 loss at New Orleans on March 14, and including that game, Los Angeles (51-24) went 5-5 with its starting center on the shelf, including stunning home losses to Charlotte and Memphis.

Gasol finally returned on Wednesday, scoring only 10 points in 32 minutes, but he added six rebounds and seven assists in a 104-91 win over Portland. The victory gave the Lakers a one-game lead over Phoenix in the Pacific Division and kept them within 1 1/2 games of conference-leading New Orleans.

“I think he looked great,” said Kobe Bryant, who led the Lakers with 36 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists. “He looked good yesterday in practice and he played extremely well tonight.”

With Gasol out, Bryant averaged 31.1 points, nearly three more than his average before the injury, but he also took five more shots per game.

When Bryant scores at least 39 points this season, Los Angeles is only 5-4.

Two of those performances have come against the Mavericks (47-28), who are currently sitting in the seventh spot in the West. Bryant scored 40 as the Lakers lost 112-105 in Dallas on Jan. 25, then had 52 to help Los Angeles to a 108-104 overtime win at Staples Center on March 2.

Games like those have helped put Bryant at the forefront of the debate over league MVP, the award Nowitzki won last year in leading the Mavericks to the NBA’s best record.

When Nowitzki landed awkwardly on his left leg in the third quarter of an 88-81 loss to San Antonio on March 23, many thought Dallas might fall out of the playoff picture entirely with its leading scorer potentially out for the rest of the regular season.

But Nowitzki came back Wednesday and helped the Mavericks get one of their biggest wins of 2007-08. They thoroughly outplayed Golden State - one of the teams they’re battling for a postseason berth - in a 111-86 victory, snapping an 0-9 drought against West contenders since the team acquired Jason Kidd.

“There was already a sense of urgency. … And then seeing Dirk out there, it was very inspiring,” said Jason Terry, who matched a season high with 31 points. “We were very surprised to see him (start).”

Nowitzki had 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting in his return.

“His presence is big on this team and we came out and played hard for him,” said Josh Howard, who had 28 points. “He showed a lot of energy when he was on the court and that carried over to everyone.”

Howard certainly did his best to step up with Nowitzki out. He averaged 30.8 points and 7.3 rebounds in those four games.

Howard is averaging 22.5 points in his last eight games against the Lakers. But Nowitzki has created the biggest matchup problems for Los Angeles this season, averaging 30.3 points and 11.3 rebounds.

He had 35 points in the teams’ most recent meeting, a 102-100 Lakers’ win in Dallas on March 18 when the Mavericks nearly rallied from a 25-point deficit.



*Starting Lineups*





































*Derek Fisher - Kobe Bryant - Vladimir Radmanovic - Lamar Odom - Pau Gasol*

*vs.*





































*Jason Kidd - Jason Terry - Josh Howard - Dirk Nowitzki - Erick Dampier*


*Injuries*
*Lakers:* Andrew Bynum (left knee) and Trevor Ariza (right foot) are out; Chris Mihm (right ankle) is probable. 
*Mavs:* Jerry Stackhouse (right groin muscle) is out.









​


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## Jet (Jul 1, 2005)

GO Mavs! I'm not gonna be able to see this game, as I am going to Chicago until Sunday. Not very good timing to go to Chicago in the NBA world, but there's not a whole lot I can do about it.


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

Jet said:


> GO Mavs! I'm not gonna be able to see this game, as I am going to Chicago until Sunday. Not very good timing to go to Chicago in the NBA world, but there's not a whole lot I can do about it.


Have fun in Chicago! Don't be spending too much money on Michigan Avenue....


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

If we don't win this game or even worse, lose by one point I'm going to stick a fork in someone :sadbanana:


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

croco said:


> If we don't win this game or even worse, lose by one point I'm going to stick a fork in someone :sadbanana:


You could probably stick a fork in the team, (not that they'll be eliminated but) they will have shown that they don't have the fire to make a real challenge to the throne.


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## VeN (May 10, 2005)

basically


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## 77AJ (Feb 16, 2005)

Good luck tonight Mavs fans. This should be a great game.


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## southeasy (Jun 11, 2003)

Canada loves the Dallas Mavericks

yet another game i get to watch in T.O.

hope J.Hustle comes correct for his 6th straight great game,


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## VeN (May 10, 2005)

I hope they double kobe, but im not holding my breath. oh well, he starts off with a 3, and no double team.. gonna be a long game


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## southeasy (Jun 11, 2003)

they are now throwin a double at kobe.

huge 2nd Q for dallas. Kidd, Howard, Dirk & Terry ALL playing great.

j.hustle is cleaning the offensive glass, defending well, getting into the passing lanes, running the break & getting in great position showing soft hands catching kidds passes w/ baseball mitts, on top of that he's actually making an effort to going inside instead of settling for that jumper. RJ aint got **** on Howard.

lamar odom is hurting dallas big, but maybe that is who they want to hurt them, putting the clutch on Kobe.


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## VeN (May 10, 2005)

exactly what i was about to say, id much rather have lamar odom taking the big shots than kobe.


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## VeN (May 10, 2005)

and thats why jumpshooting teams wont win championships..


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## Kunlun (Jun 22, 2003)

What the **** defense is Dallas playing? Horrible.


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## VeN (May 10, 2005)

ugh.. 

watch the 4th quater again. 

they went to the hole

we shot jumpshots

**** what the reporters will say after the game

thats why we lost.


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## t1no (Jul 10, 2005)

J-Ho is a *******. Pick n roll defense? wtf? and the refs just sucked in the fourth quarter.


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## southeasy (Jun 11, 2003)

damn.. and i can see why my dallas people are down on this team & i aint even a dallas fan

my boy howard played really good, but that was a really stupid tech he got, he needs to be a quiet intense, not a outspoken technical headband throwing intense.

mind you that's not why they lost the game, Lakers wanted it more then Dallas did.. Lamar Odom absolutely played dirk.. that defence dallas was showing was pretty terrible and always left one of gasol or odom open.. both guys a strong passers.

but from my POV, two strong reasons they lost tonight.. wtf are devean george & eddie jones playing 40combined minutes for!? .. putting up a great combined effort of like what? 4pts, 6 rebounds?... where was the kid bass tonight? he might give you better production then those vets (EJ & George).. who by the way i watched make some pretty damn big rookie mistakes tonight. 

& yes yes, i understand matchups. bass can't stay with odom etc, but damn.. you can't find more then 12 seconds floor time for the beastly one?


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## t1no (Jul 10, 2005)

And do we have any offensive plays?


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## t1no (Jul 10, 2005)

southeasy said:


> *
> my boy howard played really good, but that was a really stupid tech he got, he needs to be a quiet intense, not a outspoken technical headband throwing intense.*


He had one good fourth quarter a couple of games before but now he's back to sucking balls in the second half. But it's not like i expected him to play well in the second half.


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## t1no (Jul 10, 2005)

southeasy said:


> mind you that's not why they lost the game, *Lakers wanted it more then Dallas did*.. Lamar Odom absolutely played dirk.. that defence dallas was showing was pretty terrible and always left one of gasol or odom open.. both guys a strong passers.
> 
> but from my POV, two strong reasons they lost tonight.. wtf are devean george & eddie jones playing 40combined minutes for!? .. putting up a great combined effort of like what? 4pts, 6 rebounds?... where was the kid bass tonight? he might give you better production then those vets (EJ & George).. who by the way i watched make some pretty damn big rookie mistakes tonight.
> 
> & yes yes, i understand matchups. bass can't stay with odom etc, but damn.. you can't find more then 12 seconds floor time for the beastly one?


I don't think so and the rest is just bad coaching.


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## southeasy (Jun 11, 2003)

i understand what your saying, but you can't coach taking it to the hoop, your players need to do that.

howard didn't play well in the 4th, but he just started taking the end of shot clock look, the offence stopped moving, dirk & terry were hoopin, and off broken plays howard resorted to the jumpers, which he hadn't been doing in that 1st half.

he played really well with his driving & offensive rebounding, following up misses at the rim in that 2nd Q.


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## t1no (Jul 10, 2005)

southeasy said:


> i understand what your saying, but you can't coach taking it to the hoop, your players need to do that.
> 
> howard didn't play well in the 4th, but he just started taking the end of shot clock look, the offence stopped moving, dirk & terry were hoopin, and off broken plays howard resorted to the jumpers, which he hadn't been doing in that 1st half, turned up the pressure with his driving & offensive rebounding, following up misses at the rim in that 2nd Q.


No but you can coach a system with more ball movement and movement w/o the ball so it's easier for the players to attack the paint. It's hard to get easy baskets when the only offensive plays in the coach's book are isos.
"howard didn't play well in the 4th," He almost never does, i really liked him in his rookie when he use to attack the paint and play in the low post. But now he just love that jumpshot, though i have seen some improvement in the last few games. When J-Ho chooses to attack the paint and play in the low post, we are a dangerous team. But that's never going to happen because i think he's mentally weak (thanks Dirk), and just low IQ.


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## southeasy (Jun 11, 2003)

fair enough assessment, you watch this team more then i do, so you'd be more critical & on point.

gotta admit tho, he is becoming better with kidd out there, his first half 14-15 were mostly in the paint, atleast to a really good ratio tonight, he got to the line the most on the team, which is what dallas needs him to do.


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

LOL

This is already beyond ridiculous, put us in a close game and we are _never_ going to win.


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## VeN (May 10, 2005)

t1no said:


> No but you can coach a system with more ball movement and movement w/o the ball so it's easier for the players to attack the paint. It's hard to get easy baskets when the only offensive plays in the coach's book are isos.
> "howard didn't play well in the 4th," He almost never does, i really liked him in his rookie when he use to attack the paint and play in the low post. But now he just love that jumpshot, though i have seen some improvement in the last few games. When J-Ho chooses to attack the paint and play in the low post, we are a dangerous team. But that's never going to happen because i think he's mentally weak (thanks Dirk), and just low IQ.


i really think its not his fault, i think hes told to change his play after halftime, doesnt make sense otherwise.first half we are going to the hoop, and 2nd we shoot outside jumper after outside jumper and guess what, as usual we lose when the other team attacks the hoop. ugh


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

Didn't Avery also say that he likes as a defender more than a scorer in the second half and especially in the fourth quarter ? If that is the case I don't understand at all because he completely disappears often and it's not like he is shutting down anyone either.


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## edwardcyh (Dec 13, 2005)

croco said:


> Didn't Avery also say that he likes as a defender more than a scorer in the second half and especially in the fourth quarter ? If that is the case I don't understand at all because he completely disappears often and it's not like he is shutting down anyone either.


"The word 'swagger' has several letters in it," Johnson said. "And we don't want to stop on the 's.' We need to keep going."

Apparently you could stop at the "s" and follow up with "uck" too.


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