NBA Basketball Matchup: Lakers vs Mavs
The Dallas Mavericks who have won four in a row, will be well-rested and waiting for the Los Angeles Lakers to roll into the Big D on Wednesday.
Date/Time: 9:30 PM ET, Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Venue: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Broadcast: TBD
Spread: Mavs -4.5
Over/Under: 188.5
Pacific Division leaders Los Angeles (28-17) meanwhile, enter the game fresh off a Tuesday night bout in Houston, before playing its second game in as many days.
This is the Lakers first road trip without long time guard Derek Fisher who was sent to the Rockets in exchange for backup big man Jordan Hill on Thursday in a deal that also netted the team point guard Ramon Sessions.
The duo got to experience their first loss in a Lakers uniform on Sunday, when a five-game winning streak came to an end in Utah, as LA fell to the Jazz 103-99.
The Lakers were just plain awful, and sloppy, turning over the ball 24 times with Kobe Bryant committing seven of those.
Too boot, Bryant went just 3 for 20 from the floor and finished with 15 points in his worst shooting performance in years, and after converting a three-point play with 33 seconds left, missed a tying 3-point attempt with 1.9 seconds on the clock.
Andrew Bynum, who coughed up the rock five times, led the Lakers with 33 points and 11 rebounds.[soliloquy id=”82219″]
The loss dropped LA two games behind San Antonio for the No. 2 spot in the West.
They will need to take better care of the ball against the Mavericks, who after losing five of seven to start the month of March, have stormed back to begin the second half of the month by rattling off four straight wins while averaging nearly 107 PPG in that span.
Dallas (27-20) shelled the Jazz their last time out, recording a season-high 33 assists and 45 field goals as they ran passed Utah, 112-95.
Dirk Nowitzki went off for 33 points, 11 rebounds and six of those assists as Dallas snapped a seven-game road losing streak and moved into a tie with 5th place Memphis in the Western Conference.
Free Pick: Dallas–
Dirk is hot, Kobe is not. Dallas is riding a four-game win streak and the Lakers are adjusting on the road to a backcourt without Fisher.
