From Art Gracia...highlighted the section I found most telling...
The rally shook the foundation of the American Airlines Center. The call sucked all the life out of the building, not to mention it infuriated the Mavericks sideline.
One call does not a game make, so pinning the 102-100 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers on a whistle against Jerry Stackhouse with less than 30 seconds left wasn’t fair. The Mavs know they dug themselves into a hole that they almost had no right climbing out of Tuesday night.
So when Dirk Nowitzki’s fumbling desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer, off a low inbounds pass from Josh Howard, failed to draw iron, the Mavs had no one to blame but themselves. And that’s exactly what they did.
“We made a run at it, even though it’s somewhat Fool’s Gold,” Stackhouse said. “We didn’t start the game off in the first half as we have in this last little stretch where we were playing – moving the ball, sharing the ball.
This game was a game of individual matchups and that’s not how we’ve been playing, and it caught up with us.”
The Pacific Division-leading Lakers (46-21) rebounded from a tough loss at Houston by taking control of the pivotal contest between Western Conference contenders in the first half. Kobe Bryant led the way early and Los Angeles built as much as a 25-point lead in the third quarter.
The Mavs (44-24) were fresh off a five-game winning streak against low-rent teams from the Eastern Conference. Nevertheless, they felt good about their progress heading into a stretch of three straight home games against bona-fide heavyweights.
The last time the Mavs faced a stretch this daunting, they dropped nail-biters to San Antonio, these same Lakers and Utah. This was supposed to be the time to show how far they’ve come since dealing for Jason Kidd.
Instead, they are questioning why they came out with no energy on such an important stage. Less than two weeks after scoring 52 in the 108-104 overtime win, Bryant scored 20 in the first half and the visitors took a 59-38 lead into the locker room. The Mavs were stagnant with the ball, settling for isolations and post-ups, and shooting just 33 percent.
“It wasn’t pretty there in first half,” Nowitzki said. “We really had nothing going. We couldn’t get doing offensively and couldn’t stop them either. That’s a bad combination.”
The Mavs turned that combo completely on its ear midway through the third period. Down 76-51, the “light switched on.” Avery Johnson went to a small, hustling lineup that included Devean George, Tyronn Lue and Malik Allen looking for any spark.
With the bench stepping up, and Nowitzki and Jason Terry beginning to attack the basket and get to the line, the Lakers’ lead began to give. Terry finished the third by grabbing a defensive rebound with 2.7 seconds left in the period before frantically raced up the floor and pulling up in front of Sasha Vujacic to bank home a 27-footer at the buzzer.
The 14-1 run to close out the period left the Mavs within striking distance down 77-65. The momentum spilled into the fourth. George opened the period with a two-handed slam. Nowitzki’s 3 from the wing at the 10:36 mark cut it to 79-72. Terry’s two free throws a minute later made it a five-point game. The once dormant crowd of 20,534 was on its feet.
“We showed some heart and we finally got the crowd involved,” said Nowitzki, who scored a game-high 35. “They were booing a little in the first half. We finally showed some energy and were hustling.”
Despite a excellent job of denying Bryant (29 points) in the second half – George and Howard did much of the individual work – the Lakers kept some breathing room thanks mostly to three rainbow 3-pointers from Vladimir Radmanovic. Nursing a 98-91 lead with 1:12 to go, Nowitzki hit two 3s in a span of 24 seconds to cut the deficit to 98-97 with 41.3 seconds left.
Radmanovic misfired on the ensuing possession and the Mavs thought they cleared the rebound to set up a go-ahead shot. A whistle had sounded. Stackhouse was called for an over-the-back foul against Lamar Odom with 29.8 on the clock. Odom made both free throws.
“I just jumped up and got the ball at its highest point,” Stackhouse said. “Stuff was happening all night.”
Nowitzki added: “Tough, tough call, but I feel in a game like that it always evens out.”
Kidd missed a leaning 3-pointer from the corner with Bryant closing fast on the next possession. Terry (19 points) did follow with a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left to make it 101-100. After one free throw from Derek Fisher, the Mavs had the ball in the Lakers’ end with 4.1 showing.
Nowitzki was supposed to come of a triple-screen, but the play wasn’t executed properly and he mishandled the pass from Howard. Without time to make a move, he fired up a prayer that wasn’t answered.
The NBA-leading Celtics are next up on Thursday. Boston is one step away from a rare Texas Triangle sweep after taking care of San Antonio and Houston on consecutive nights.
The Mavs had a chance to pull ahead of the Spurs in the Western Conference. San Antonio visits the AAC on Sunday. The Lakers, who were without Pau Gasol, have now beaten Dallas twice this month.The Mavs are 0-6 against winning teams since acquiring Kidd.
“It’s not the time now to hand our heads and give up,” Nowitzki said. “All you have to do is keep fighting, keep swinging and still get better on the run, and hopefully get over the top.”
As disappointed as he was with his team’s performance for 2 ½ quarters, Johnson echoed those sentiments.
“My confidence is not shaken,” he said. “I think more than anything, it showed what we can do when we play the right way. Had we gotten blown out, when they had us by 22, had they kept that lead, I think we would have been severely disappointed.
“We are disappointed because we don’t like coming in second. But again, every game is a playoff game and they played it early on more like they were playing for their basketball lives and we didn’t.”
link