Mavericks at Lakers
THE STORY: The chase for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference heats up Thursday when the Los Angeles Lakers host the Dallas Mavericks. Los Angeles has a half-game lead over the Mavericks and can move closer to securing the position with a victory over Dallas. The Lakers have been the NBA’s top team since the All-Star break with a 15-1 mark and enter Thursday’s contest with a seven-game winning streak. Dallas defeated the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday for its fifth straight victory and has an NBA-best 27-10 road record. The Mavericks are 13-1 against Pacific Division teams with the lone loss coming against the Lakers on March 12.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE LAKERS (53-20): Los Angeles hasn’t played since routing the New Orleans Hornets 102-84 on Sunday. Kobe Bryant scored 30 points and Pau Gasol had 23 points and 16 rebounds. It was only the Lakers’ second double-digit victory during the winning streak, which began with a five-point victory over the Mavericks. Bryant is averaging 36.3 points over the last three games as he appears to be revving up for a playoff run. Center Andrew Bynum has played phenomenal since the All-Star break with 11 double-digit rebounding games. He is averaging 11.8 points and 12.4 rebounds over his last 14 outings. The Lakers are wrapping up a seven-game homestand in which they haven’t lost. Their last defeat at the Staples Center was to San Antonio on Feb. 3.
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (53-21): Dallas is 3-0 on a season-long six-game road trip but at least the Mavericks didn’t have to travel anywhere after Wednesday’s 106-100 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Dallas also has defeated Utah and Phoenix on the road excursion. Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points and Jose Barea came off the bench to score 22 points in the victory over the Clippers. Nowitzki missed two free throws against the Clippers, his first misses since March 4 against Indiana. He made 74 straight between misses. Sixth man Jason Terry made just 2 of 11 shots against the Clippers and matched a season-low with just six points.
WHO'S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Nowitzki is averaging 24.3 points in March, topping 20 points in 13 of 15 games. Gasol is averaging 21.8 points and 12.5 rebounds over the last four games. Dallas guard Jason Kidd is shooting just 37 percent (10 of 27) over the last four contests. Lakers guard Derek Fisher is averaging 3.7 points while making just 4 of 20 over the last three games.
KEY STATISTIC: The Lakers have held nine opponents under 100 points during their 16-game run with just three foes topping 100 points. Los Angeles is allowing 95.4 points per game. Dallas is also playing good defense, having held six straight foes to 100 or less and giving up an average of 87.7 during that span.
SEASON SERIES: The teams have split two meetings with both games played in Dallas. The Mavericks won 109-100 on Jan. 19 and the Lakers prevailed 96-91 on March 12.
KEY INJURIES: DALLAS: F Corey Brewer (knee); G Dominique Jones (foot); F Caron Butler (knee). LOS ANGELES: F Devin Ebanks (leg); C Theo Ratliff (knee).
LAST WORD: “Sometimes you win games because you’re just hot and you’re shooting the hell out of the ball. Other times you win because of your defense. Sometimes it’s a combination of both. In this instance, we’re just minimizing mistakes and we’re just executing well. It has nothing to do with we’re on fire or hot or anything like that. We’re just doing the job the right way.” – Lakers guard Kobe Bryant on the team’s stretch of 15 wins in 16 games.