Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Los Angeles Lakers 100 at Dallas Mavericks 95
Wednesday night had a chance to go down as a historic night in Dallas Mavericks' history and an important date for the Mavs' 2009-10 season.
(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)
While Dirk Nowitzki provided the historic setting to the night, his team could not notch a signature win over the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. The night began with Dallas' leading-scorer, Nowitzki, sitting just 16 points away from becoming the first European and the 34th player in NBA history to join the 20,000-point fraternity. The night also marked a third matchup between the two best records in the Western Conference, as the Mavericks welcomed the Lakers to the American Airlines Center. While Nowitzki's 30-point, 16-rebound performance was enough to make him the first Maverick to reach 20,000 points in a career, his team couldn't match the Lakers in late-game execution, falling 100-95 for their second consecutive home loss. It was disappointing not to get the win, but to do so on an historic night for No. 41 was extra troubling, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said after the loss.
"(Nowitzki) would rather have the win than 20,000 points," Carlisle said after watching his superstar reach the milestone in a losing effort. "That's where the disappointment is. You get a guy who is pure basketball heart. He'd do anything to win any ball game and he wouldn't care how many points he scored. That's what really makes him special along with the other things (Dallas fans and media members) have seen on a daily basis for over a decade. The shot-making, the plays, the threes...All that stuff. It's very disappointing."
"He hits the 20,000-plateau, that is an amazing accomplishment for him. But you know it's kind of (frustrating) when you can't get the win, when he gets the mark," forward Shawn Marion said.
Dallas looked for retribution from a 131-96 throttling at the hands of the Lakers in L.A. on Jan. 3. With both teams claiming a win in the first two meetings, the third game of the season series figured to be a pivotal one.
The Mavericks began the game with swingman Josh Howard inserted back into the starting lineup. On a night that figured to belong to Nowitzki, No. 41 got the Mavs on the board with a patented jumper on his first shot. But the Mavericks had a tough time containing Lakers center Andrew Bynum in the early stage of the opening quarter, as the 7-footer's dominance in the low post gave L.A. an early 14-7 advantage. Bynum, a concern for Carlisle before the game, scored 13 points in the first quarter before exiting the game with two quick fouls. With the Lakers' big man sidelined, the Mavericks closed to 27-24 at the end of one.
"All night it felt like we were kind of fighting an uphill battle. We should have had way more pep to our step," Nowitzki said.
Kobe Bryant checked out of the game, scoreless, due to back spasms with 1:00 left in the first quarter and wouldn't be heard from again until the start of the third quarter. Despite forcing four Laker turnovers in the first quarter, Dallas surrendered 61 percent shooting to L.A. in the opening period, while the Mavericks hit on just 38 percent at the offensive end.
But the Mavericks found life in the second quarter, as big man Drew Gooden and the Dallas bench briefly pushed the Mavs ahead in the early minutes of the second stanza. That is until Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown and the L.A. reserves matched Dallas' energy. The Mavericks stayed in the game behind a stifling defense, an attacking Howard and Jason Kidd's touch from beyond the 3-point line. Nowitzki's ability to get to the foul line helped Dallas' cause, as the 7-footer turned it on in the final minutes of the second quarter. But Nowitzki's foul on Ron Artest's 3-point attempt with .2 left on the game clock, helped Artest and the Lakers take a 49-45 lead into the halftime intermission.
L.A. out-shot Dallas 49 percent to 34 percent in the first half. Despite the Mavericks' slight 26-24 rebounding edge, the Lakers controlled the interior with a 24-14 advantage in points in the paint, due in large part to Bynum's 15 first half points to lead all scorers. Nowitzki's 11 points after the first 24 minutes of play left him just five shy of 20,000.
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
"In the first half we had a lot of wide-open looks. We got some pull-ups and missed some layups, so it was frustrating," Nowitzki said. "Kobe barely played in the first half and we should have had a lead, but we were down chasing them all first half...Without Kobe, we should have had a lead at halftime. We would have felt a lot better about ourselves."
Like two championship fighters, the two teams exchanged blows and the lead early in the third. The Lakers turned to Bryant, who seemingly shook off the back issues. Meanwhile, Nowitzki got help from Howard and Marion. But in a highly emotional and physical game, Nowitzki was called for a technical foul with 3:00 left in the quarter. At the time Nowitzki was only one point away from the career milestone. With the star on the bench, Bryant and the Lakers went back ahead.
"This was a fight," Marion said. "We were going back and forth and trading buckets for a long time it seemed like."
As they had at the end of the second quarter, the Lakers put points on the board to close the third, when Farmar's 3-pointer with .3 ticks left gave L.A. a 76-71 edge heading into the fourth.
"You can't give up points at the end of the second and third quarters," Carlisle said. "We've got to do a better job of handling those situations. If the team is not doing well, it's on me as the coach. We're going to spend more time on late-quarter, closing out more. I thought that those were two huge, momentum plays in the game, along with a lot of others."
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
But while the final period was an uphill climb for the Mavericks, a moment belonged to Nowitzki. The Germany native made history when he rained in a 14-footer over Lamar Odom at the 10:57-mark of the fourth. While the shot cut the L.A. lead to 78-75, it made Nowitzki the newest member of an exclusive club. When the next dead ball stopped play, the Dallas faithful showed their appreciate for the franchise's all-time leading-scorer.
"It was a special moment when the crowd stood and applauded for what seemed like several minutes, and it was well deserved," Carlisle said.
"Obviously, in the future in 10 or 20 years, it will be a great achievement. I'll look back on it and be proud...We just needed that win to make this night a little more special, I guess," Nowitzki said of the feat.
Meanwhile, Nowitzki did everything he could to bring his squad back, after the Mavericks found themselves in a six-point hole midway through the period. When the Laker lead grew to eight, sixth man Jason Terry stepped up with a 3-pointer. Nowitzki then poured in a jumper, following it up with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 95-all with 42.9 seconds remaining. Just 14 ticks later, Bryant came right back, pulling up for a jumper to put the Lakers back ahead two.
"When we needed a stop we couldn't get it and then Kobe hit that big shot towards the end of the fourth quarter," Marion said.
Out of a timeout, the Mavericks went to Nowitzki, who found center Erick Dampier in the paint. Bryant fouled Dampier, sending the 7-footer to the line where he missed a pair of free throws. Battling for the rebound, Nowitzki fouled Bynum with 21.1 seconds remaining. After a Gooden foul on the subsequent inbound pass, Bynum went to the line with 20.3 seconds on the clock. But the Mavericks lucked out when Bynum hit just 1-of-2 at the line, as Nowitzki grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 20.0 seconds left for a Dallas comeback attempt.
After Carlisle drew up a play for Nowitzki in the corner, two Laker defenders ran at No. 41 forcing the ball out of his hands and into Howard's. Unfortunately for Dallas, Howard's game-tying three attempt sailed long into Farmar's hands. It was the second straight possession that the Lakers forced the ball out of Nowitzki's hands, leading other Mavs to try to be the hero.
"I'm a basketball player. When I see a teammate open, I'm going to give him the ball...We had our chances, it just didn't go our way," Nowitzki said.
"Basketball is a game of reactions...You can't deprogram a guy from making the right basketball play," Carlisle said of Nowitzki's unselfishness late.
The Lakers point guard then nailed a pair at the charity stripe to widen the margin to 100-95 with 5.6 seconds left. A late Terry 3-point attempt came up short, as the night closed with Dallas falling for the seventh time at home.
"I think we're a team that has to have a certain balance. It's tough when we have to pile on and tell Dirk to go win the game for us in the last three minutes. It's not fair to him. A lot of that could have been eliminated had we made several other basketball plays that may have been totally unrelated to offense," Carlisle said.
Nowitzki's 30 points was a game-high, while his 16 rebounds is a season-best. Howard's 18 points provided a stablizing No. 2 scoring option, while Kidd recording a double-double with 11 points and 11 assits. Marion was the only other Mav to score in double figures, finishing with 10 points.
Bynum led five Lakers in double figures with 22 points. The entire L.A. frontline of Bynum, Odom and Artest all finished with double-doubles. The Lakers out-rebounded the Mavs 48-44, out-shot Dallas 49 percent to 43 percent and won the scoring in the paint 44-34. The L.A. bench also outscored the Dallas reserves 31-21.
Now the Mavericks try to finish off a three-game home stand with a win against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night. Dallas claimed a 100-86 road win in Oklahoma City on Dec. 16 in the first meeting between the two squads. The Mavericks-Thunder matchup will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.
"We're not hanging our heads," Nowitzki said. "We're still second in the West, that's the amzing thing. We're right there with everybody else and it's not time to hang our heads now. There's still a lot of basketball left to be played."
Dallas and the NBA have introduced the official NBA All-Star game ballot, featuring Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, Shawn Marion and Jason Terry. For more on how to vote for your favorite Mavs for the All-Star game, to be held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, visit Mavs.com.
Follow Mavs.com’s Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EarlKSneed.
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