Dallas Mavericks rally late; beat Los Angeles Lakers in series opener - Part 2
The Los Angeles Lakers came out in the 3rd quarter, looking to build on their lead from the first half. They got about the business quickly and stretched the gap to a game-high 16 points. Just when the game looked to be slipping away from them, Dallas hit back with a 20-6 spurt bridging the middle period of the third frame. The blow-out burst slashed the Lakers’ lead down to only 2 points. Tyson Chandler hit the free throw that made it 66-64, with 4:04 left on the clock.
Although the Lakers still held on to the lead, they couldn’t shrug off the Mavericks, who always stayed in contention. The Lakers had a chance to kill off the game with the 16 point lead, but they didn’t make use of it. Their carelessness came back to haunt them, as the Mavs stole the win in the dying moments of the game.
After Kobe Bryant sank his jumper to make it 92-87 with 3:33 left to play, the Mavs went on a 9-2 run to end the game. Dirk Nowitzki hit a clutch shot with 40 seconds remaining that took the score to 94-93, Dallas trailing by one and possession with Los Angeles. However, the capacity crowd watched in horror as Kobe Bryant, under immense pressure from Jason Kidd, turned the ball over in the ensuing possession. Nowitzki then hit two big free throws after a reckless foul by Pau Gasol to give Dallas the lead.
More madness followed as Jason Kidd stole the ball from Gasol, who fouled him to stop the clock. Kidd made one of his two free throws and Dallas led by 2 with only 3.1 seconds remaining.
Phil Jackson called a time out as Lakers drew a play to win or tie the game. They went, as expected, to Kobe Bryant at the restart with a catch and shoot opportunity. However, there was no grand closing for the Lakers as Kobe missed his 3, which would have given Los Angeles the win. Instead the Dallas Mavericks secured a win on the road and will be mightily pleased with it.
Pau Gasol questioned the foul called on him against Nowitzki after the game, but conceded that Los Angeles got too comfortable for their own good towards the end,
"We maybe got a little carried away. We didn't make good decisions offensively and we paid the price defensively. We gave them a chance that way. We got a little too excited at that particular time."
Dallas played with good team spirit and never gave up. The team came together on the road and everyone contributed. This decisive factor on the night was Dallas winning the bench battle 40-25 against the Lakers, who were over-reliant on Kobe. The team scrapped to the finish line but Jason Terry wasn’t complaining,
"We can say that we didn't play our best game, but we found a way to win. That's the bottom line this time of year...the Lakers have been in this position a lot of times and they've found a way to win the series, so we haven't done anything yet."
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle praised his team’s tenacity and singled out Kidd for his defence against Kobe in the final stretch, "Jason Kidd is one of the few guys capable of having a possession like that against a top player. There was a reason we try to keep him off Bryant a lot of the game."
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