Dallas Mavericks 94 at Los Angeles Lakers 80
If the Mavericks were concerned about a carry-over effect from their season-opening loss at home to Washington then the Los Angeles Lakers couldn't tell.
The Mavericks, who had lost six straight to the defending champions at the Staples Center, served notice to the Lakers and the rest of the league that Dallas can play with anyone, on any night, with a 94-80 road win.
"It feels great," Dirk Nowitzki said after the win. "We have not won in this building in it feels like forever, so for us to come in and play well, especially after we lost the season opener at home. We took that pretty hard. So it was great, we came together and played hard together, we played well defensively and competed.”
(Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
Dallas' defense kept Kobe Bryant quiet all night
After criticizing his team's energy and effort on the defensive end following the Washington loss, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle saw a completely different squad take the court Friday night, as the Dallas defense kept superstar Kobe Bryant under wraps and held the Lakers to just 35 points in the second half.
"I just liked the way we played from start to finish," Carlisle said. "Our activity defensively was superior to what it was the other night at our first game. We just had a real determined collective mindset tonight and it showed in how we played overall. It's big. Every game is going to be tough in the West -- every game, home or away. So every win is precious and we certainly needed it."
Modeling their new alternate road uniforms for the first time, the Mavericks once again started a lineup of Jason Kidd, Quinton Ross, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Erick Dampier. It was the same lineup that began the season-opening 102-91 loss to the Wizards, but the lineup played with much more energy the second time around.
"The ball is not always going to go in the basket. It didn’t go in the basket the first game. If we played with this kind of attitude in the first game, it could’ve been a different outcome. The first game was a lesson learned and we just have to continue to build," Carlisle said.
With L.A. struggling to knock down shots to start the game, the Lakers stuck around due to the Mavs' inability to defend L.A.'s length and rebounding ability in the paint. L.A. grabbed six offensive rebounds in the quarter, but Marion scored in the lane seemingly at will early to push Dallas to a 15-12 lead midway through the opening period.
After the Mavs turned defense into easy offense on their way to a 24-18 advantage, Lakers guard Jordan Farmar connected on a 3-pointer with 4.0 seconds left in the quarter to cut the Dallas lead to three at the end of one. Dallas held L.A. to under 35 percent shooting in the quarter while hitting on better than 44 percent on offense.
In the second quarter the Mavericks began to solve the rebounding problem that kept the Lakers in the game.
"I think what helped us were the rebounds, we started making sure we got the rebounds," Marion said. "From the second quarter on we just focused on getting points."
The Maverick reserves gave the team a boost early in the second quarter, after a James Singleton 3-pointer and Kris Humphries jumper put Dallas up 31-23 with 9:15 left in the half.
"We went deep in the bench tonight and everybody gave us good minutes and I thought that was the key as well," Carlisle said.
L.A. responded with a 9-2 run to knot the game at 33-all. But Dallas wasn't about to lay down, as Nowitzki sent a message to the Lakers when his screen in the backcourt sent Shannon Brown to the floor.
The play energized the Dallas bench and later in the period Kidd found sixth man Jason Terry in the corner for a 3-pointer, lifting the Mavs to a 40-37 advantage and putting the reigning Sixth Man of the Year into double-figures scoring in the half.
Nowitzki's first field goal of the half came with just 2:26 left, but his driving score over Lamar Odom gave Dallas a 46-39 lead. The half ended with the Mavs up 52-45.
With both teams shooting around 42 percent in the half, Dallas surged ahead by getting to the charity stripe, knocking down 15-of-18 at the foul line and taking 13 more free throws than the Lakers in the first 24 minutes of play. The Mavs' defense suffocated the Lakers on the perimeter, holding Bryant to just 11 points in the first half and stifling L.A. to 4-for-13 from 3-point range.
"We were very aggressive and it showed in the number of times we got to the free throw line, in the number of deflections we got defensively. This is going to be the key to our success if we’re persistent, particularly at the defensive end and execute," Carlisle said.
"It was a team effort and it was something we had been working on in Training Camp and we played great team defense tonight," Kidd said of the defensive execution.
The Dallas energy level picked up in the third and the Lakers began to unravel.
With the Mavericks up nine early in the third, Kidd's defensive pressure in the backcourt forced an offensive foul on Ron Artest. It was Artest's fourth personal foul, leading the combustible forward to argue the call and pick up a technical foul. With the Lakers out of sorts, Nowitzki began to come alive with back-to-back jumpers to give Dallas a 60-47 advantage with 8:39 left in the third.
Dallas continued to own the third quarter when the lead ballooned to 19 on a Terry 3-pointer with 3:44 left in the third. The Mavs led by as much as 22 before taking a 78-60 advantage into the final quarter. Dallas outscored L.A. 26-15 in the third quarter, with eight points in the quarter coming from a rejuvenated Nowitzki.
From the end of the third into the early stage of the fourth, the Lakers used a 10-0 run to cut the Mavs' lead to 12, capping with a dunk-tip putback from Brown with 9:39 remaining.
Knowing that Bryant would be looking to take the game over in the fourth, Carlisle and the Mavericks went to a zone on defense to throw multiple bodies Bryant's way. The strategy worked.
"I think we did a decent job with Kobe, I think in the fourth we knew he was going to try and take the game over and we zoned him up a bit and that really helped," Nowitzki said. "He couldn’t go to his spots he usually wants to go to make his shots, so that was a great call by coach."
With the Mavs struggling to score on offense, Kidd and Marion took charge.
First the veteran point guard penetrated and found a cutting Marion for a running floater in the lane. The next time down the court, Kidd picked up assist No. 11 on an alley-oop feed to a baseline-cutting Marion for the spectacular finish. Marion picked up a tip-in off a Barea miss before his fourth straight score, a runner off the feed of Barea, put Dallas up 88-71 with 5:07 left.
As Dallas seized control, both teams emptied their benches late and the Mavs secured the 14-point win.
The Mavericks shot 41 percent in the win, while holding the Lakers under 40 percent. After struggling on the glass early, Dallas won the rebounding battle 46-40.
After a 1-for-6 first half, Nowitzki finished with a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds. It was his 27th straight game with 20-plus points, which is the longest streak of its kind in the NBA.
Marion finished with 18 points and six rebounds, while Terry posted 16 points and Barea added 12 of the Mavs' bench. Bryant led the Lakers with 20 points, but shot just 6-of-19 in the loss.
"We’re getting into the habit of playing hard and playing persistently on the defensive end and we’re going to keep working on it," Carlisle said of the effort his team displayed in the win. "The first game was extremely disappointing but in the big picture, I have great belief in these guys. I know how much they want to win, I know how much they love to win, and I know how much they love playing together. We just have to keep working on the mindset. That’s the biggest thing."
"It is a big win character-wise for this team, because we kind of had a flat game at home so this is a confidence booster for us," Kidd said. "But it is just a win and game two so if it helps us confidence-wise then we know we can play with the best. We have another one Saturday night in this building so we have to prepare now for the Clippers.”
Dallas now makes its second straight appearance at the Staples Center, playing the L.A. Clippers on Saturday night, with the game airing locally on KTXA 21 and KTXA 21 HD at 9:30 p.m. CT.
The Mavs return to the American Airlines Center on Nov. 3 to face the Utah Jazz at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets remain available. For ticket information call (214) 747-MAVS. The game will air on FSN Southwest.
The Mavs have also introduced the “MavsU” program, designed to offer college and university students an opportunity to attend Mavs games at a discounted rate. The Mavericks and Genghis Grill have teamed to offer discounted tickets to students for many upcoming games.
To purchase any MavsU ticket and receive a coupon for a free bowl at Genghis simply call 214-747-MAVS or visit Mavs.com.
Follow Mavs.com’s Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EarlKSneed.
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