Lakers at Mavericks
The Los Angeles Lakers are riding high after their first back-to-back wins of the season as Nick Young’s return provides a spark off the bench. The Lakers will look to wrap up a perfect 3-0 road trip when they visit the red-hot Dallas Mavericks on Friday. The Mavericks are winners of five straight and are leading the NBA in scoring at an average of 108.9 points behind Monta Ellis and Dirk Nowitzki.
Dallas owner Mark Cuban made news on Tuesday when he went on a radio show in Los Angeles and said of the Lakers, “personally, I just hope they suck forever.” Los Angeles was 1-9 at the time but went out that night and beat the Atlanta Hawks before surging past the Houston Rockets with a game-ending 12-1 run on Wednesday. Young, who missed the first 10 games while recovering from a thumb injury, made his debut in Atlanta and averaged 16.5 points in his first two games while giving defenses another perimeter scorer to worry about besides just Kobe Bryant.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, TWC SportsNet (Los Angeles), FSN Southwest (Dallas)
ABOUT THE LAKERS (3-9): Los Angeles had its best defensive effort of the young season at Houston and held the Rockets without a field goal over the final 2:41 while erasing a five-point deficit in the 98-92 triumph. Bryant, who shot better than 50 percent from the field for the first time this season in the win over the Hawks, went back to his high-volume ways with 29 points on 10-of-28 shooting in Houston but the supporting cast was able to pick up some of the slack. “I mean, we had a bad start,” Bryant told reporters. “Are we a 3-9 team? No. We're a much better team than that. We'll pick it up.”
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (9-3): The addition of Chandler Parsons and Tyson Chandler added new dimensions to the offense, but Dallas still leans on Dirk Nowitzki in crunch time. The former MVP rolled an ankle in Washington on Wednesday but returned to the court in time to knock down a key 3-pointer with 1:20 left in the 105-102 triumph. “(Nowitzki’s) a game-changer and one of the best in history,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. “And even though he didn’t have a great game shooting the ball or scoring, his ability to make timely plays and to change the dimensions of the court showed what his impact is.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Mavericks took all three meetings last season by an average of 14.7 points.
2. Los Angeles C Jordan Hill has recorded four straight double-doubles.
3. Dallas G Devin Harris (leg) sat out Wednesday and is day-to-day.