Pau Gasol leads the charge as Los Angeles Lakers shut down Dallas Mavericks – NBA Recap
The Los Angeles Lakers have been facing a lot of issues of the court off late, but all the distractions were put aside on Wednesday night when they took on the Dallas Mavericks – a team that swept them out of the Western Conference Semifinals last season.
The Lakers had already edged the Mavs 73-70 last month, but the thirst for revenge was hardly over and tonight, they again stumped the defending champs 96-91.
After Kobe Bryant publically stood up for him, Pau Gasol has been gradually returning to his own. He was on fire early and after opening the account for Los Angeles he capped a 12-3 run with six straight points to hit the ground running. Needless to say, the Mavs were ready and after netting seven on a trot, they opened up an 8-3 run to make it 18-19 deep inside the first quarter. They were trailing by 25-18 going into the last ten seconds of the period, but bounced back with a 8 point unanswered run extending into the second to take a 26-25 lead.
What followed though was a 17-2 Lakers burst that put them ahead by 42-28. But, if anybody thought, the Lakers had pulled away with something significant, the Mavs proved it wrong within minutes, courtesy a 20-6 spurt that tied the game at 48 at the break. The shootout continued in the third quarter, which saw seven ties and six lead changes. Both teams managed 24 point in the stanza and the game moved into the final 12 minutes all tied at 72.
Mavericks maintained a slight advantage in the first six minutes, but between 6:19 and 2:30, they failed to score even a single point, allowing the visitors to carve out a nine point run for an 89-82 lead. The shooting slump proved decisive in the end as the Lakers held on to a 96-91 win.
The Lakers got good number from their seven footers. Pau Gasol led with 24 points and 9 rebounds while Andrew Bynum ended up with 19 points and 14 boards. Kobe Bryant went 4-of-15 for 15 points while Derek Fisher also posted 15. The Lakers shot 46 percent field goals as compared to 40 percent from the Mavs, who got a game high 25 points from Dirk Nowitzki and 20 from Vince Carter.
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