Lakers’ Team Effort Pulls Through In Dallas

Yahoo! Sports: DALLAS (AP) — If the Los Angeles Lakers are going to make the playoffs, they’re going to have to do it on the road. Kobe Bryant got them off to a good start Thursday night.

Bryant scored 36 points and made two huge plays on each end of the court in the last 1:20, giving the Lakers a 100-95 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in the first game of their travel-filled closing run.

The Lakers, in a tight race with Denver and Minnesota for the West’s eighth and final playoff seed, play 15 of their final 23 away from home, starting with this one. This also was the first of six straight road games — and they’d lost their last three away from the Staples Center.

“Obviously we have a long haul ahead,” Bryant said. “We have to take this and move on. … This is the way we wanted to start this road trip.”

While Lamar Odom nearly had a triple-double (15 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists) and Tierre Brown revived his game with 10 points, including two big 3-pointers, it was still Bryant who made the biggest plays.

He grabbed one of his nine rebounds after Dallas missed two potential go-ahead shots with just over a minute left. He took it all the way for a layup that put the Lakers up by three points, then came back and stripped Dirk Nowitzki from behind on a jump shot.

Bryant scooped up the loose ball and fed Jumaine Jones for a layup, but he missed and Bryant wound up putting it back in for a 98-93 lead with 58 seconds left.

“I know his game pretty well,” Bryant said, “so I just waited until he made his move.”

Lamar Odom Nowitzki, who scored 25 points but shot just 6-of-19, also missed a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left that would have tied it at 98.

“We were getting some guys back that we wanted back, but they were just a little rusty tonight and it’s going to take some time,” acting coach Avery Johnson said. “We’ll get it together.”

The Lakers were boosted by contributions from a variety of players, starting with Brown, who hadn’t scored in the last six games, two of which he didn’t even get into.

“He made some big shots when they doubled Kobe,” coach Frank Hamblen said. “I told him at the shootaround today that we’re going to give him more minutes.”

Chris Mihm added 10 points and seven rebounds, and Chucky Atkins scored 13. Los Angeles was 7-of-16 on 3-pointers after going just 1-of-18 in a win over the Mavs last week.

Bryant also made his first six free throws to give him a club-record 43 in a row. He finished 8-of-10 from the line.

Alan Henderson had 10 points and a season-high 17 rebounds for Dallas. Josh Howard, who sprained his left ankle when tangled with Bryant, had 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Finley, wearing a long white sleeve on his left leg to protect a bruised calf, was just 4-of-14 for 12 points. Jason Terry went from consecutive 20-point games to 11 points on 5-of-17 shooting.

After swapping the lead 15 times and being tied five times by halftime, the Mavericks grabbed control with a 12-2 surge midway through the third quarter. The Lakers trailed by as many as 12 points then used an 8-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter to move back in front. The five-point margin at the end was their biggest lead of the game.

“We knew this would be a tough way to start the trip,” Hamblen said. “I’m proud of the way our guys played.”

Bryant’s free throw streak topped the 40 in a row by Gail Goodrich, who did it twice in the early 1970s.

The Lakers move back into the 8th playoff seed with this huge road victory over the Mavericks. Their next stop is over in North Carolina to take on the expansion Charlotte Bobcats on the road. What was your opinion on the game in Texas? Sound off on the CL.com Forums!