Dallas Mavericks win again as Los Angeles Lakers’ title push falls apart -
Part 1
On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers endured one of the worst experiences any team can dream off, when they were booed by their own fans at the Staples Center. The
crowd vented its fury after a 93 – 81 defeat, the second straight, for the Lakers at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks.
Los Angeles were utterly out-played by an on song Dallas team. However, despite a top notch performance from the Mavs, the crowd expected the two-time defending champions
to put up a fight. They didn’t see any on the night. Lakers Centre Andrew Bynum echoed these concerns after the loss,
"We're a talented team so we kind of get by sometimes...at this point it's obvious because this team is cutting us apart and we're not doing anything about it...now it's
time to really sit down and ask ourselves the tough questions."
Before the team heard it from their crowd post-game, Lakers forward Pau Gasol was singled out by the fans in the third quarter. Gasol had his shot blocked by the 6-foot-5
Mavs guard DeShawn Stevenson and the crowd let him know they weren’t pleased with his effort. Gasol was particularly poor on defence.
Pau had 13 points and 10 boards, while Bynum finished with 18 and 13 rebounds. Kobe Bryant scored a team high 23, but the Lakers bench combined for only 12 points, half
of which came from NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, Lamar Odom. Lamar also had a forgettable night and was especially poor when guarding Dirk Nowitzki.
Nowitzki led the scorers with 24 on the night and Shawn Marion added 14 for the Mavericks. Dallas had four players in double figures while two more missed out by a point
each.
The Lakers started the game strongly and took a 10-6 lead inside the first 3 minutes. Dallas slowly overtook the Lakers in the 7th minute when Jason Kidd knocked
one down from downtown after being fed by Stevenson. They ended the quarter leading by six at 26 – 20. No substitute from either side got on the scorecard in the first period.
That however changed in the second quarter when Peja Stojakovic banked one in to start the scoring. With 6:58 left in the period, Pau Gasol hit a hook shot that ignited
a 10 – 0 run for the Lakers. The Lakers took a 3 point lead as a result. The Mavs however kept on putting numbers as the lead changed hands five more times in the ensuing minutes. Dirk Nowitzki nailed a jumper in the dying seconds of the half as Dallas went
into the break with a 51 – 49 advantage.
Both benches provided decent outlets to their respective sides in this period but could not give a clear cut advantage as they neutralized each other out. Dallas had 10
points of the bench while Los Angeles had 8. Los Angeles struggled from beyond the arc throughout the first half and did not register a single 3-pointer going into the interval.
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