<font color="RoyalBlue"><font size="3"><div align="center">Los Angeles Lakers (30-29) @ Dallas Mavericks (39-20) @ Thursday March 10th, 2005 - 9:30PM ET Tipoff (on KCAL, TNT)</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 The season series is tied 1-1 Key Stat Bryant has scored 118 points in the last three games, and 30 or more in five of the last six games. Key Match-Up Kobe Bryant vs. Kobe Bryant The man has been on fire offensively the last three games for the Lakers. Unfortunately, he's been lone bright spot this season for the Lakers. The Lakers lost a tough game to the Clippers last night, and now find themselves on the outside looking in for the final playoff spot in the West. With Kobe carrying this team, will he try to do too, much tonight against the Mavs? In the Clipper game Kobe got into a bit of a one on one feud with Maggette, after his teammates (mainly Odom) struggled to score. Tonight TEAM Kobe has to show up and not Kobe versus the Mavs. It's not that Kobe is a selfish player, but at times he tries too, hard to win games for his teammates, instead of willing his teammates to win. The Lakers need to get it done on defense tonight to fire up the offense. The last game players did a great job of help defense leading to easy baskets and blocked shots agains the Mavs. Lamar Odom won the match-up battle against Nowitzki, and the Lakers led for the majority of the game. A quick start is needed tonight and Kobe has to continue to be an efficient scorer for the Lakers. He cannot beat himself by feeling he is the only chance for the Lakers to win tonight. At the same time, his teammates need to gain back his confidence and be active on both ends of the court and execute the game plan. Lakers' Keys to the Game - Limit Turnovers!!! - Attack Dallas inside (last game the team shot 51%) - Chris Mihm needs to pretend he's at Staples Center - Hold the Mavs to under 100 points Mavericks' Keys to the Game - Contain Kobe Bryant - Work the pick and roll - Do a better job on the glass (last game 47 to 39 Lakers) Prediction Just a few days ago the Lakers were back on track beating this Maverick team. Picking up a victory tonight will be a great start to this 6 game road trip, and help the Lakers overcome the blow to their confidence after losing to the Clippers. The Mavericks got healthy at the wrong time for Laker fans, as both Nowitzki and Finley return to the Mavericks lineup. The Mavericks have lost two of their last three and are looking to snap out of their complacency as well, especially with the Rockets closing ground on them. The Mavericks' bench needs to do a better job tonight than they did in the last game at Staples. The Mavericks' bench has the advantage hands down, but it was actually outplayed by the Lakers' bench in the last game, by giving up too, many second chance baskets to the Lakers in the form of offensive rebounds. Keith Van Horn really struggled in the game shooting 2-10 off the bench and got out hustled by Jumaine Jones. The Mavericks are a tough home team boasting a 20-10 record and they would love to put the Lakers out of their misery by trouncing them tonight. I predict the Lakers losing this game 110-92. I think the team snapped last game against the Clippers, and they have not had enough time to recover mentally from that game. The Lakers took part in a clear-the air session before the road trip, so there are obvious problems brewing on the team. The Mavericks are not a team to be facing coming off a session like that. Quote of the Day <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"He had added responsibility on him with the departure of Shaquille [O'Neal] and he's taken that role head on," Finley said. "He has to be effective the whole game. We'll just try to limit his touches, which is almost impossible and try not to let him take over the game like he did in LA." </div>
LA Wins. Tough Game for Dallas, The best home team last year.... Kobe Bryant carried LA to the W', MAV's had a huge game off the bench by Henderson and Daniels, but wasnt enough.
