9:59pm (ET)
Kobe Bryant's biannual quest to embarrass the Mavericks in LA seems to have ended with 3:09 left in the first quarter. Kobe had already scored 13 while Dallas was missing its jump-shots, and the Lakers had jumped to a 20-13 lead. Dallas fans were taking a collective deep breath.
From that point, though, Kobe missed 4 straight shots and Dallas outscored LA 28-10 up to 5:50 left in the second. Then Smush Parker (the Lakers' second best player in uniform!) got tossed at 9:28. And then, 19 seconds later, Kwame Brown (second best of those remaining?) airballed a free throw.
I don't think it's a stretch to predict that this will turn ugly.
I love that the Mavericks' post defenders aren't afraid to use their fouls this game. The Lakers have gotten the ball near the basket a number of times, and the Dallas defenders have almost without exception forced them to shoot free throws.
Here's hoping this post doesn't need a revision before the night's done.
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11 comments:
The Mavs are currently dominating the Lakers. But, as we discussed earlier, the Mavs once held a 27 point lead in this building and then lost it. At half, the lead is 24, so we'll see what happens.
And, yes, I think it's safe to say that things have turned ugly.
Yeah, as far as I can figure Kobe only scored 3 points for the rest of the half since the Lakers had that 20-13 lead. I don't think he's going to have quite enough magic this time, especially since there probably isn't another guy playing for the Lakers tonight who would even see playing time for Dallas.
Hey! Maybe we'll get to see Mo Ager play some extended minutes. He's a c-of-c guy, you know...
A C-of-C guy in the NBA? That might be a first. Be interesting to know if there have been any others (Does David Robinson count?). How did you find that out?
By the way Scott, did you get my text message?
Also, are you listening to the local Dallas commentators, or the ESPN guys? How do you get the Dallas broadcast in Boston?
I didn't get the message until just now, but I am watching on espn. I've never tried to get the radio feed. Is it free?
Ah--no, it looks like it costs $20 for the year to listen to games online. I'd enjoy putting it on over the tv broadcast, but I find radio by itself kind of irritating.
Earlier in another post you made a comment about Bob Ortegal commenting on Jason Terry. I was just curious how you listened to Bob Ortegal in Boston.
Gotcha. I was in Dallas last week, so I got to watch it on FNSW there.
One of the guys on espn just said that the Suns are basically “a wash” with the Mavericks since they're only 4 1/2 games behind Dallas. It seems to me that if the two teams had less gaudy records, then 4 1/2 games wouldn't be all that much of a difference. But in this case, Phoenix would have had to turn 36% of its losses into wins in order to match Dallas. That is hardly a wash.
Or to put it another way, I don't think anyone in their right mind would say that 63 wins (Phoenix's pace) is basically the same thing as 70 wins (Dallas' pace). The first is a good season, but the second is obviously something special.
Incidentally, I think Tim Legler is about to punch Greg Anthony. I just hope the microphones pick it up with he does.
On the Dallas broadcast, they showed a great clip of an interview with Avery Johnson. The reporter asked if Avery was worried the Mavs would burn out at the pace they're playing. Avery said (paraphrase): "How's that possible? We have nothing to burn out, because we're still not playing flawless basketball."
I'm not sure whehter to take that as just another cliche sports comment or if it's an indication of how hard Avery drives the Mavs. I am a little worried how long a team will put up with this kind of coach.
My feeling is that they'll respond well to Avery all the way to the end of the playoffs this year. And if they win the title, I think they'll continue to respond for next season too.
The problem is if Dallas goes through all this and then doesn't win the title. I don't know how they can keep up this kind of intensity for another year unless it pays off.
An interesting example of Avery's style: he pulled Dirk, Howard, and Terry early, but he didn't empty the bench until the 4 minute mark. I suppose there are any number of reasons, but my guess would be that he wanted Croshere and George to get some playing time with a decent lineup on the court. Always looking to the long-term good of the team.
I just looked at a box score, and I guess Ager got demoted to D-league when Devean George came off the DL.
Wow, with George back, Dallas can pull all their starters and go with Harris, Stackhouse, George, Croshere, and Diop. That five probably could have beat tonight's Lakers on their own.
Record defeat for the Lakers at home...wow.
Two tough games coming up for the Mavs to test our streak.
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