Reply With Quote
gotta get this win because the Lakers got seven winnable games at home after this one
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/preview?gameId=310312006There's plenty on the line Saturday night when the Dallas Mavericks host the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Mavericks can build a bigger lead over the Lakers in the race for the Western Conference's No. 2 seed and clinch the tiebreaker between the teams.
Dallas (47-18) is 1 1/2 games ahead of Los Angeles (46-20) for the second-best record in the West behind San Antonio. The Mavericks won 109-100 in the first meeting at home Jan. 19, and the teams' final matchup after Saturday is at Staples Center on March 31.
"It's the defending champs coming in your building, so it's a big deal," coach Rick Carlisle told the Mavericks' official website. "To try and downplay it wouldn't be being honest. It's an important game."
The Lakers are finishing a difficult four-game trip after their eight-game win streak since the All-Star break ended with Thursday's 94-88 loss at Miami. Los Angeles had beaten the Spurs and Atlanta in the first two games before getting outrebounded 46-37 by the Heat.
"They had 12 offensive rebounds in the first half; we don't do that," guard Kobe Bryant said. "That is uncharacteristic of us. I turned the ball over late in the game when it was tied; just stupid stuff like that. Those are easily correctable."
The Mavericks are expecting the Lakers to be angry after their win streak was snapped.
"This week has been full of tough challenges, and it doesn't get any easier now," forward Dirk Nowitzki said. "The Lakers just came off a loss in Miami, so you know they're gonna be ready to play. Yeah, it should be another fun test."
Carlisle challenged his team by calling the Mavs "soft" after recent one-point losses to Memphis and New Orleans. Dallas responded with a dominant effort Thursday with a 47-37 edge on the glass in a 127-109 win over New York.
"A win is a great response, to anything," forward Shawn Marion said. "What more can you ask? No reason to dwell on it. ... We all get caught up in the heat of the moment at times. That's what he felt at the time. You've just got to learn from it and do it."
Nowitzki had 23 points, Marion 22 and Jason Terry 21 as Dallas posted season highs for points in a game, quarter (41 in the second) and half (72 in the first).
"We had some tough losses here in the last week," Nowitzki said. "You can't win them all so you have to come back the next day and compete and that's what we did today."
The Lakers have struggled to shoot 42.4 percent in five games this month. They shot 40.0 percent Thursday, and 29 percent in the second half
"We just didn't capitalize on opportunities," center Andrew Bynum said. "We turned the ball over twice at critical times."
Dallas has won two straight over Los Angeles after losing eight of the previous nine meetings. The Mavs made 12 of 26 3-pointers and had three players score at least 21 points in the first meeting on a night when Nowitzki was limited to 14.
Bryant had 21 points and 10 assists and Lamar Odom added 20 points and 10 boards for the Lakers. The Mavs' 55.0 percent shooting is the second-highest allowed by Los Angeles this season.
gotta get this win because the Lakers got seven winnable games at home after this one
Big game. Hate the Lakers, hate the Mavs. But will be tuned in for some good bball
Best of luck Lakers fans. Should be a good one.
Must win for the 2 seed . Go Mavs
wouldn't say it's a must win but it definitely would be helpful ........ Dallas has yet to come to Staples
Must win for the Mavs I meant. I would never
put LA in a must win anytime during the regular season
I wouldn't even say its a must win for the Mavs as well ...... Mavs got a nice cake ass schedule at the end of the year .... Lakers didn't take advantage of their cake ass schedule at the beginning of the year and have a brutal end to the season. Ball is definitely in the Mavs corner .......
41 you one of my s so don't take this personally tonight....
You already know my41 you one of my s so don't take this personally tonight....
Spurs should really take advantage of these two teams fighting it out.
With a Spurs win and a Mavs loss we'd be back up 7 games on both Mavs and Lakers.
Position: Rugged Forward
Team: New York Knicks
?
What's the mystery?
Never heard of a New Yorker Spurs fan?
Alright... Who's the girl in your sig bro?
New York Spurs fans are one in a million. Theyre all ing bandwagoners that are on Kobe's nuts.
Jaime Koeppe
Time to up some purple and gold tonight
I'm the only legit Knicks fan here...GTFO
Just tuned in. Looks like a good game so far.
Bynum owning right now.
Bynum beasting
NB
Apparently the 3-second rule doesn't apply to the Lakers. Bynum, ya wanna spend 12 seconds in the lane?
No problem.
LA beasting in the paint, Mavs shooting jumpers
Brewer should be sinking those threes in a different uniform.
i hate Barea
Barea playing for the Lakers tonight..
Mavs are too stacked(with decent players), tbh, I don't know how Carlisle is going to deal with the rotation in the playoffs..
is ridiculous
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
