Mavs Full Court Press

Catching up with...the Los Angeles Lakers

The Mavs will try and continue their rejuvenated attack against one of the best teams in the league tonight. What was looking like a blowout win for the Lakers a few days ago may be a tighter contest because of the return of a certain player. The Mavs beat the Lakers in their first meeting this year, but have lost the last two.

More on Pau Gasol's return from injury, the Laker's balanced attack without Gasol and Andrew Bynum's status after to jump:

Dirk is dy-no-mite down the stretch, but ...

After a nightmarish shooting display in the first three quarters, Dirk matched Kobe bucket for bucket in the last six minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime. He scored 12 points in the last 5:50 of the fourth and had eight points in overtime.

He got all of his points on those familiar high-post isos that ended with either jumpers, dribble drives or trips to the free throw line.

Now, not to question how spectacular Dirk was or how sound Avery Johnson's simple strategy is when the big German delivers, but the question has to be asked: Why do you need Jason Kidd when the crunch-time offense is just dribbling to the 3-point line, pitch the ball in to Dirk and stand around and watch?

Again, the strategy paid off for the most part -- well, except for the game's outcome, of course -- but ball movement, motion and any real offense come to an end when the game is on the line. It just seems like a waste of having a guard like Kidd.

-- garza

The third quarter ...

.... was a good one for the Mavs. They committed only two fouls -- both by Erick Dampier on Kobe, continued to dominate the boards (42-36), and limited their turnovers. Things are getting physical and it seems the Lakers are losing their composure a little. A technical could be in Kobe's future -- he only leads the league in that category.
-- garza

Erick Dampier, MVP

He's simply playing like a monster today. Thirteen points and 15 rebounds with 2:35 left in the third quarter. He is controlling the paint and totally exploiting the Lakers' finesse frontcourt of Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol.
-- garza

At the half

It's a crazy game. Who would have thought that:

(1) Kobe would be 3-of-8 from the FT line?
(2) the Mavs would shoot better from the 3-point line (58.3 percent) than from the field (37.5)?
(3) Dirk would be tied as the Mavs' fifth-leading scorer with just five points?

-- garza

Board work

The Mavs are pounding LA on the glass so far, winning the rebounding battle 15-10 with less than nine minutes left in the second quarter. Dallas could be providing a blueprint for beating the retooled Lakers: get physical in the paint and attack the offensive boards.
-- garza, mavs lite

after one quarter ...

The Mavs are down 29-23. The keys for the second quarter will be for them to:
(1) get Dirk involved because LA has no one to guard him.
(2) tighten up their perimeter defense.
(3) limit turnovers -- they had six in the first quarter.
(4) and adjust without Jason Kidd, who is saddled with two fouls.

-- garza, mavs lite

Holy Pau!

The Mavs are having a tough time cutting off penetrations and rotating properly, so it's leaving Pau Gasol open in the paint for a lot of easy buckets. He has 12 points already on 5-of-7 shooting with 1:45 left in the first quarter. The Mavs better tighten things up, or it could be a long afternoon.
-- garza, mavs lite

Phil finds Dallas is sometimes foul

With 59 fouls called and 78 free throws attempted, the Mavericks-Lakers game was anything but smooth. But Lakers coach Phil Jackson explained it and also took a little swipe at the Mavericks and Avery Johnson.

"We knew it was going to be like that," Jackson said. "They like to do that here. The coach gets on the referee, the referee's kind of animated. There's a lot of focus on that in this organization. When you come in here, there's a lot of fouls called a lot of times. The Mavs play that kind of a game so you've got to real careful and it can change the concept of how you play it because of the fouls."

Jackson said the stop and start nature of the game interrupted the flow, but then noted that the Lakers reduced a 17-point lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter to five late in the game, so they seemed to be able to handle it effectively.

-- Jan Hubbard

Preparation? So you think it would help?

Before the game tonight, Avery Johnson was asked if he tried to prepare his team to face Kobe Bryant in the same way he might prepare them to face LeBron James, Tracy McGrady or other top stars.

"I don't know if you can really put guys in Kobe's circle," Johnson said. "He's a pretty special player. He's a three-time champion, perennial All-Star. I don't know if there is a player that can really dominate a game right now the way he can when he wants to. I don't know if you prepare the same way that you do for some other guys. I think he's out there in a stratosphere by himself."

And Bryant seems to be proving that. At halftime, he has 22 points but the Mavericks hold the lead at 56-55.

-- Jan Hubbard