NBA - After Losing Lead Lakers Fight Back To Get the Victory against the Mavs

The current first place of the Western Conference, the LA Lakers were close to lose a game that seemed easier at first against the Dallas Mavericks, after losing their lead of 15 points at the beginning of the 4th quarter. The LA Lakers were controlling the game since the beginning; however some of the LA players became relaxed and maybe too confident in the final quarter thinking that the Mavs would quit, but that wasn’t the case and the Mavs fought back having a run of 31-14 to take over the lead 95-89. But even so, their efforts weren’t enough as Kobe Bryant and the Lakers pull out their victory, winning by seven points 107-100.

During the first quarter, both teams were making good plays and it seemed that it was going to be a closed game; however, the Lakers were more effective during that period by enclosing a lead at the end of the quarter of 9 points with a score of 37-28. In the second quarter, the Lakers always remained up in the score, even though Dallas managed to cut off the lead to just seven points, but yet at half time the Lakers were up 66-54.

Moreover in the third quarter, things were almost the same as Los Angeles were in control and extended their lead up to 15 points, but at the end Dallas decreased the advantage by seven once again. Finally, in the last quarter, the Mavs came back stronger as they cut off the score and took control of the lead with some good shots of Terry and some free throws of Bass, putting then things 95-89 in favor of the Mavs. Nevertheless, a quick reaction of the Lakers with a 12-0 run brought the stability back to Kobe, Phil Jackson and the rest of the team. At the end, with some good plays of Ariza and the amazing contribution of Bryant, the triumph came to the Lakers.

Kobe Bryant said after the game that the relaxed attitude of his teammates and the good zone defense that the Mavs applied gave Dallas a way to get closer and destabilized their offense. “The thing that threw us off was the zone," Bryant said. "It broke our rhythm up. So then it was a matter of trying to establish a rhythm and try to think about how we were going to cut up their zone. Once we got that, we got the game under control."

In the game, the best scorers for the Lakers were Kobe Bryant with 28 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, Trevor Ariza with a career-high of 26 points, Paul Gasol with 25 points and 8 rebounds and finally Lamar Odom with a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds. For the Dallas Mavericks the best scorers were Jason Terry from the bench with 29 points, Dirk Nowitzki with 20 points, James Singleton with a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds and finally Antonie Wright which ended with 12 points.

The next game for the LA Lakers will be against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 17th at the Staple Center whereas the Dallas Mavericks will face the Detroit Pistons that same day at the American Airlines Center. Currently the LA Lakers are in the 1st place of the Western Conference with an overall record of 53-13 whereas Dallas is in the 8th place of the Western Conference with a record of 40-27.