Lakers at Mavericks
The Rajon Rondo era in Dallas is off to a shaky start with just one win over an undermanned San Antonio Spurs team in three games thus far. Rondo and the rest of his teammates will try and snap a two-game skid when the weary Los Angeles Lakers visit Friday. Dallas, the highest-scoring team in the league, was outgunned by Phoenix 124-115 on Tuesday despite 22 points and 14 rebounds by Tyson Chandler.
Rondo is averaging 10.7 points and 9.3 assists in his first three games, but the Mavericks' scoring is down, turnovers up and top scorers Monta Ellis, Dirk Nowitzki and Chandler Parsons shot a combined 42.7 percent. "We're three games in," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. "Three games in four days. We've got more work to do. When you have a couple of games like we've had the last two nights it feels like you're light years away, but we're a lot closer than it feels." The Lakers, who have lost four of five, are playing their third game in four days and hope to get back Kobe Bryant, who sat out the last two contests with "general soreness."
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), TWC SportsNet (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE LAKERS (9-20): Los Angeles rolled Golden State 115-105 on Tuesday with Bryant not even at STAPLES Center, but then returned to its losing ways with a 113-93 loss Christmas night to the Chicago Bulls. "My knees are sore at this stage of the season," Bryant said before the game. "My Achilles are sore - both of them. My metatarsals are tight, back is tight. I just need to kind of hit the re-set button." Wesley Johnson had 19 points and nine rebounds and Ed Davis had 13 and 14 against the Bulls and is averaging 13.8 points and 8.3 rebounds in 27 minutes the last four games.
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (20-10): Dallas better get it figured out fast because after home games with Oklahoma City and Washington following this one, the club embarks on a stretch in which 14 of its next 19 games are on the road. It appears that Charlie Villanueva will get more minutes with the departure of Brandon Wright in the Rondo deal. The 6-11 Villanueva has scored 32 points and connected on 8-of-15 from beyond the arc in 33 minutes the last two games after playing just 62 minutes the entire season.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Dirk Nowitzki is six points shy of overtaking Elvin Hayes (27,313) for eighth all-time on the NBA scoring list and 102 points shy of Moses Malone for seventh.
2. Nowitzki, Parsons and Ellis all reached the 20-point mark as Dallas posted a franchise-high and NBA season-high 140 points in a 34-point rout over Los Angeles on Nov. 21 as Bryant shot 6-of-22.
3. Over the past four seasons, the Lakers have yielded 140 or more points four times while the rest of the league has combined for six.