Dallas Mavericks @ LA Lakers -- 3/4/05

<font color="RoyalBlue"><font size="3"><div align="center">Dallas Mavericks (38-18) @ Los Angeles Lakers (28-28) Friday March 4th, 2005 - 10:30PM ET Tipoff (on FoxW, ESPN)</div></font></font>

Projected Lakers Starters
<font color="Indigo">PG - Chucky Atkins
SG - Kobe Bryant
SF - Caron Butler
PF - Lamar Odom
C - Chris Mihm</font>

Projected Mavericks Starters
PG - Jason Terry
SG - Michael Finley
SF - Josh Howard
PF - Alan Henderson
C - Dirk Nowitzki

Mavericks lead the season series 1-0

Key Stat
Lakers have lost a season high 4 games in a row.

Key Match-Up
Lamar Odom vs. Dirk Nowitzki

This will be a great match-up between two agile big men. Normally either player presents a mis-match because of their ability to score off the dribble and take most bigs out on the perimeter and torch by them. Tonight Odom will have to make Dirk earn his points. Odom has to defend with his feet, instead of his hands to avoid early foul trouble. The Mavericks do not have any shotblockers, so Odom will have the opportunity to drive to the basket without having to worry about a big man rotating over. Odom needs to attack Nowitzki and put the pressure on him to play defense and avoid fouls. Last year with the Heat, Odom was in a similar situation, but he was able to lead the Heat on a streak and get them into the playoffs. This is a great opportunity for him to assert himself and help shoulder some of the load off of Kobe. If Odom and Kobe can find away to both be effective tonight, it should carry over to the rest of the team and give the Lakers a great chance at winning this game. Everyone is expecting the Mavs to make short work of the Lakers, but the Lakers have shown heart this season and I expect them to compete tonight.
Lakers' Keys to the Game
- Limit Turnovers
- Control Tempo
- Defense Must Show up Tonight
- Hold the Mavs to under 100 points

Mavericks' Keys to the Game
- Work the ball inside early, to establish an inside/out attack
- Work the pick and roll
- Protect against Lakers going for offensive rebounds

Prediction
It's crunch time for the Lakers tonight. They are home after a disasterous road trip against the Atlantic Division. The Lakers had a chance to win all three road games, but 4th quarter miscues cost them and has resulted in a season high 4 game losing streak. To make matters worse, the Nuggets have won 5 straight and have tied the Lakers for the 8th spot in the West. The Lakers will have all the pressure on them tonight and so far they've cracked in the clutch. The Lakers will struggle tonight, because the Mavs will run pick and roll with Dirk & Terry, or Dirk & Finley. The Celtics killed the Lakers with the pick and roll at Boston and I expect more of the same tonight. Jason Terry had a field day against Atkins in the first match-up and the Mavs forced the Lakers into an up and down shoot out. The Lakers cannot out shoot the Mavs, but the Lakers don't have the discipline to manage tempo. With both Atkins and Kobe looking to attack with the basketball, the Lakers play right into the Mavs style of basketball. The Mavs have also improved defensively this year, and are doing a better job of rebounding. Teams used to be able to stay in the game by taking advantage of the Mavs weak defensive rebounding, but with Henderson and Howard shoring up the defense it's harder to get easy looks.

The Mavs have the edge in the starting lineup and a tremendous edge off the bench. The Mavs' bench could probably give the Lakers' starters a run for their money. A lineup of Van Horn, Stackhouse, Daniels, Armstrong, and Bradley will completely dominate the bench battle tonight. The only bright spot all season off the bench has been Jumaine Jones, but other than JJ, the bench has been disgustingly inconsistent for the Lakers.

Despite everything going against the Lakers I'm going to predict them winning tonight. The Lakers don't want to fall below .500 and my gut tells me they pull off the big upset tonight. The Mavs have always struggled in the Staple Center, and I expect a let down from them tonight. Lakers win 110-103.


Laker Quote of the Day
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"It's never panic time," forward Lamar Odom said. "We've been in this situation before where you've got to win, whether it's eighth grade, fifth-grade basketball, high school, college, and now professional. We've got to put a streak of wins together. How we're going to do that is playing basketball the right way."</div>

 

After losing to the Celtics and Knicks, I don't see how we can beat one of the better teams in the league. I take Dallas in this one...113-107. High scoring of course, Kobe with a decent game, I think Lamar will step up..but that is it..

 

Don Nelson has said he plans to rest his starters down the stretch to save them for the playoffs. In the first game the Lakers lost by 14, but I don't see Jason Terry shooting 90% from the field again, nor do I see Kobe being shut out in the first half of the game. The Clippers beat the Mavs soundly the other night, so the Lakers have a shot at beating the Mavs. The Clippers beat them by attacking the basket all night long, and it led to 37 free throws. The Clippers also owned the rebounding battle 52 to 32. The Mavs are beatable if the Lakers make a conserted team effort to attack the rim.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Da_Future_2k5:</div><div class="quote_post">just because the Clippers beat the Mavs doesnt mean anything.. every team has off nights, if anything that could be a bad thing for the Lakers. Mavs should win this easily unless Kobe goes for over 40.</div> It does mean something, it means the Mavs are beatable if the Lakers attack the basket. The Mavs got off to a slow start, but the Clippers did a great job of not letting them back in the game. The Lakers have to use the same tactics tonight. I still believe in the Lakers, they've been in most of the games they've lost (except Detroit). If they were getting blown out in those previous games I'd say there was no chance the beat Dallas tonight. But the Lakers can rebound the ball better than the Clippers, so they have a chance. Also Chris Mihm is a lot better when he plays at home. I expect him to get a double double tonight and have a few key blocks.

 

Yaaaaah Booooyyy! If only JJ made those last two free throws, I would have predicted the exact final score. Lamar Odom did a great job on Nowitzki tonight, and Butler was big being the 3rd option on offense. I liked the rotation a lot better today, keeping the lineup big and not giving Tierre Brown and Cook much playing time. Big home win for the Lakers, but they still are up against a wall. The bleeding has stopped, and hopefully the Lakers can put together a 4 or 5 game win streak. Next up is the Pacers, who will be without Jermaine O'neal. So some breaks are going the Lakers way at the right time.

 

Ah..I missed the game, was in San Diego for the night...anyways..great win..Kobe exploded tonight..C'mon Kobe, lets get this team rolling again.