Stevenson, Terry Pivotal As Mavs Beat Lakers: Mavericks 101 Lakers 96

If the Mavericks want to be considered among the top teams in the Western Conference, Wednesday night’s game against the reigning NBA champion Lakers was arguably the most important game of the season thus far. The Mavs had to play at a consistently high level for the entire game to win, and they came out on top 101-96 and looked like a playoff squad doing it.

A close game throughout, the contest boasted 24 lead changes and eight ties. The largest Mavericks’ lead was five points, the margin they won by, and the biggest Lakers’ advantage was nine, following a 10-0 run in the second to put them up 48-39. Kobe Bryant netted two jump shots to end the run. But the Mavs quickly found their groove again on a Jason Kidd 3 and a Jason Terry 3-point play to make the halftime score just 50-49 for the team from the West Coast. To follow up a strong finish, the Mavs scored the first six points of the second half.

Starting in place of Caron Butler, who sat out due to a reaction to medication, DeShawn Stevenson was charged with guarding Bryant. He shined and held Bryant to 20 points on 9 for 23 on field goals, including 0 for 5 in the first quarter and 0 for 3 from long range. Bryant’s two dozen points was well below his average of 27.9 per game, a total that ranks fourth in the league.

Terry’s 30 points, including 6 for 6 from the line, and Dirk Nowitzki’s 31 led the Mavs’ offensive production. After going 0 for 10 against the Heat on Saturday at the peak of his shooting struggles and 5 for 10 against the Pacers on Monday, Terry seems to have rediscovered his shot. Terry also helped Kidd in the 3-point department as both guys each bucketed four, accounting for all the team’s 3’s. There couldn’t be better news for the Mavericks.

Also, the Mavs out rebounded the Lakers 41-36 and shot 10 more free throws for the game, two telling statistics. In the fourth quarter alone, the Mavs made 14 of 15 free throw attempts on their way to outscoring the Lakers 27-24 for the quarter. For rebounding, Nowitzki and Brendan Haywood each finished with nine, while Kidd and Shawn Marion contributed seven apiece. As is becoming routine, Haywood blocked five shots for the second time in six games as a Maverick.

Before the game, head coach Rick Carlisle gave his opinion on how to beat the now 43-15 Western Conference-leading Lakers:

"You’ve got to play an extremely aggressive, active game. You’ve got to play your
style of game because they’re going to want to play a medium-tempo game and trot
it up the court and get it inside and try to
pound you inside out.”
-Rick Carlisle

I guess he agrees with me in thinking the Mavericks succeeded in doing that because TV announcer Mark Followill made this observation to TV analyst Bob Ortegel regarding the normally stoic Carlisle:

“Bob, I just looked over to Rick Carlisle, and I thought I saw kind of a
little smile.”
-Mark Followill

It’s always good when both the coach and fans alike recognize a strong performance.