Los Angeles Lakers beat Dallas Mavericks despite Dirk Nowitzki heroics – NBA Recap
The Los Angeles Lakers got a welcome win under their belt when they defeated the reigning NBA World Champions, the Dallas Mavericks, 73 – 70. In a notoriously low scoring affair at the Staples Center the Lakers were able to finish ahead of the Mavericks
after an engaging contest.
Los Angeles have had some mixed fortunes at the start of this condensed NBA season and would have liked the win over a strong side and a big rival. For the Mavericks, the loss will undo the good work they had done in recent games after a lacklustre start
to the season.
Dallas ended up losing the game despite the dominant play of star forward Dirk Nowitzki, who scored a game high 21 points and had 7 rebounds. He lacked support though as only one other Mavericks player made it into double figures for scoring. That honour
went to Lamar Odom, who incidentally left Los Angeles at the start of the season and featured in his first game back at the club.
The Lakers had been riding high behind a wave of tremendous performances for Kobe Bryant, who notched up above 40 points in multiple games recently. The “Black Mamba” however was not on song tonight as he could only manage 14 points of a dismal 7-of-22 from
the field.
Los Angeles therefore relied on solid defence and a sizeable contribution from centre Andrew Bynum, double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds, to edge the game.
The first quarter was a closely fought affair and the teams were inseparable until Lamar Odom popped up with an effort from downtown to end the period, giving Dallas an 18 – 15 lead.
The second quarter saw a Los Angeles fight back as they outscored Dallas 24 – 17, taking a 4 point advantage into the break at 39 – 35.
If the fans were expecting the two sides to take their intensity up a notch, then they were definitely mistaken. An 8 – 0 run by the Mavs was the highlight of the third period which was definitely not pleasing on the eye. Only 16 points were scored by Dallas
but the Lakers were beyond poor, netting just 7 points in the entire segment.
The home team was jolted by their ineptitude however and came out firing in the final period. They scored 27 points in the last frame, and with the scores level at 70, Derek Fisher connected from beyond the arc to give Los Angeles the win.
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