Mavs rally to stun Lakers in Game 1

By GREG BEACHAM

LOS ANGELES (AP) Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points and hit two go-ahead free throws with 19.5 seconds left before Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant made a crucial turnover, and the Dallas Mavericks rallied for a 96-94 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.

Nowitzki had 14 rebounds for the Mavericks, who dramatically came back from a 16-point deficit in the second half of the perennial playoff teams' first postseason meeting in 23 years.

Bryant scored 21 of his 36 points in the second half for the Lakers, but he fell down while trying to get the ball from Gasol with 5 seconds to play. After one free throw by Jason Kidd, Bryant missed a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.

Game 2 is Wednesday night at Staples Center.

Gasol had 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for the second-seeded Lakers, who lost their second straight series opener. Their loss to New Orleans two weeks ago was much more surprising than this loss to the playoff-tested Mavs, but the Lakers' lack of poise down the stretch should be scary to anybody anticipating a threepeat.

The Mavericks trailed 92-87 with 3:32 to play, but finished on a 9-2 run - showing all the late-game poise that's expected of Bryant and the two-time defending champions.

Lamar Odom scored 15 points for Los Angeles, which nursed a small lead throughout the second half until Nowitzki scored in the lane with 40 seconds left to trim the deficit to 94-93. After Jason Terry swiped the ball from Bryant, Gasol fouled Nowitzki on the Mavericks' inbounds play, allowing the 7-footer to give Dallas its first lead since the second quarter.

Terry added 15 points for Dallas, which struggled on the boards and in the paint before the comeback.

The Mavericks too often settled for jumpers early on, and they lost their cool with 90 seconds left in the first half after offsetting technical fouls for Gasol and Tyson Chandler, who jawed all the way down the court after jockeying for rebounding position. The Lakers leaped to a 53-44 halftime lead with four points in the final 0.7 seconds, thanks to an ill-advised foul by Terry and a technical foul on Nowitzki.

Dallas made a 20-6 run shortly after falling behind 60-44 in the third quarter, but Bryant singlehandedly kept the Lakers ahead with 12 consecutive points.

Both teams finished the regular season with 57 victories apiece, but Los Angeles won two of three in their series, including a blowout victory March 31 that was marred by several ejections. Matt Barnes was suspended for getting involved in a confrontation between Steve Blake and Terry, who appeared to shove Blake to the court after a foul.

After a brief Twitter battle between Terry and Barnes, whose sportswear company made up T-shirts commemorating the clash, both teams put aside the ugliness of their last meeting while preparing for the franchises' first postseason meeting since the 1988 Western Conference finals.

Even Lakers coach Phil Jackson and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban declined to rekindle their history of mutual sniping in the media, instead praising each other in recent days. Jackson even said Cuban would be an excellent prospective owner for the troubled Los Angeles Dodgers, although Cuban declined to comment on the much-rumored prospect before Game 1.

Both clubs finished off their first-round series in six games after splitting the first four. The Lakers blew their opener against the Hornets before finally taking control despite an unimpressive series from Gasol, while the Mavericks bounced back admirably after blowing a 23-point lead in a Game 4 loss to Portland.

Terry scored 13 points in the first half while hitting five of his first six shots, but the Lakers took a 53-44 halftime lead with a 14-2 run - including that productive final second.

Terry got too close to Odom's last-ditch heave from halfcourt right before the buzzer, and Odom made three free throws. Nowitzki then got a technical foul for throwing an aggressive elbow under the hoop while scrapping with Ron Artest, and Bryant hit a final free throw.

NOTES: Bryant had the 81st 30-point game of his playoff career, trailing only Michael Jordan (109) in NBA history. Bryant has scored in double figures in 156 straight postseason games. ... Fans near courtside included Jack Nicholson, Eddie Murphy, Justin Timberlake, David Beckham (on his 36th birthday), Gordon Ramsay, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, January Jones, Jennifer Carpenter, singer Seal, Mekhi Phifer, Anthony Kiedis, New York Jets TE Dustin Keller and Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis.

Copyright 2011 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

POSTGAME QUOTES


Lakers coach Phil Jackson on tonight's loss:
"Well we went in the locker room and we gave it [the game] away. I'm not so sure Dallas didn't outplay us, but I just felt like we gave it away. A couple misplays on the offensive end, and the foul at the end to put them on the line kind of makes it difficult to win those kind of games."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on if he thinks his team played "Dallas' game" by shooting a lot from the perimeter:
"No. There defense was good, they took the foul, we stopped executing our offense, [and] we took some shots from the outside. We were open, guys had looks, but we didn't shoot that well."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on how Dallas won the game tonight:
"[We] just took open shots, didn't move the ball, work the ball around. And all of a sudden you're [Dallas] back in the ball game, three point ball game. It took a lot of energy out of us and put a lot of energy in them to be able to come back and do that. So that shows a lot of heart on their part to be able to do that. They changed the tempo of the game, they had run-outs, got some turnovers, and made us pay for it."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on the Mavericks defense against Andrew Bynum:
"They took good fouls on him in the lane, and they wouldn't let him get his turn so he couldn't get a turnaround on them and drop step. They kept him out of the lane for the most part."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on the Lakers' execution down the stretch:
"It wasn't very good. We turned to ball over a couple times. I had a turnover. Pau had a turnover. We didn't execute well."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on if the Mavericks did anything different offensively tonight:
"No, we just blew a lot of coverages. We gave them a lot of shooters open looks and they missed. But then they knocked some down and it got them back in the game. We have to sure up that part of our defense."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on how worried he is that the Lakers gave the Mavs hope:
"They always had hope. They're in the second round and they're here to play. I don't really see it as being a big deal. We just have to compete."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on how to neutralize Dirk's shot-making in Game 2:
"We'll think about doing some things a little different, but he's going to make shots. He's going to make tough shots. That's what he does."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on if losing Game 1 has helped the Lakers recently:
"I don't think it helps. I think if anything, it can hurt you because you get complacent. You get over-confident that Game 2 is a formality and that you're going to go in and win it. So we have to still have that sense of urgency and significance to win Game 2."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on if things got too easy in the third quarter:
"Yeah, we made a point to talk about that. We've been in games like this where things are grooving and it's really easy, then all of a sudden, you're in a dogfight. Turnovers do that. We missed some pot-shots too that we should have made."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on his level of concern:
"I'm highly concerned. This team can beat us. It's clear. We just have to come in ready to play Game 2."

Lakers' Pau Gasol on the game tonight:
"They [Mavericks] made big runs when they most needed to and we couldn't control the game when we needed to. We ha good leads, especially in that 3rd quarter and they made a lot of plays to come back into the game. They had a good run and they gave themselves a chance."

Lakers' Pau Gasol on what prevented the Lakers from winning the game tonight:
"We should've been able to control that stretch better and we didn't. We just let them get really close and at the end obviously it was a really bad ending turnout for us. It was a tough loss because we should've won that game, but give them [Mavericks] credit. They fought back and got the W."

Lakers' Pau Gasol on if there is a concern losing tonight:
"We're definitely capable of it, we know that. Obviously at this point we just lost…but come back tomorrow and watch what we did wrong, what we could've done better and come back on Wednesday ready to get a win."

Lakers' Andrew Bynum on their lead in the 3rd quarter and why it got away:
"For me, personally, I didn't have a very good game…defensively just collapsed…"

Lakers' Andrew Bynum on their 16 points in the 4th quarter:
"We stopped moving the basketball and playing the right way."

Lakers' Andrew Bynum on what he needs to do for himself to get going:
"I'm just going to be so much more aggressive. I felt like I wasn't aggressive at all, getting in low-post position, nothing. I kept letting them [Mavericks] hit me first. It's going to be different."

Lakers' Andrew Bynum on what he got out of their game plan offensively:
"I think defensively we just relaxed."

Lakers' Lamar Odom on how he thinks they lost tonight:
"It's a funny game because even though we got up I didn't really feel like we played at the speed that we wanted to play at. Coming down, taking quick shots. That's how they want to play, we kind of have to control the tempo a lot better, and move the ball, try to put our bodies on them, get some offensive rebounds; things like that."
Lakers' Lamar Odom on their 16-point fourth quarter:
"I think they controlled the game as far as speed was concerned. I didn't really like the tempo that we played at. This is a team that they want to take a lot of shots…we never really played at our tempo tonight."

Lakers' Lamar Odom on if he is concerned about the "big picture" at all:
"I mean, it's one game…of course it was right there for us to win it but we lost. Put it behind you, move on and get better, and get ready for the next one."

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle on his team coming back from 16 points down:
"We've been battling all year. NBA games are long, 48 minutes is a long time. We still had a quarter and a half left basically. I thought [Corey] Brewer going in the game gave us a lot of energy. He ran the floor, hit a couple shots, he got deflections, he got his hand on balls, [and] made things happen…we made some plays at the end."

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle on the defense Jason Kidd played at the end of the game:
"Jason Kidd is one of the few guys capable of having a possession like that against a top player. There was a reason we try to keep him off Bryant a lot of the game. It's just too much, takes too much energy. We need him to do so many other things for us. That was a great sequence. We dodged a bullet at the end, but the guys earned it."

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle on the sequence involving a foul and a technical called on his team with :00.7 seconds left:
"The last 10 seconds of the first half are things that may never happen to this team again, ever. And so we need to forget about that...We said one of the keys to the series was be persistent and play out possessions…the other stuff, 'hey, it should've been a five point game,' and it wasn't but there's a lot of game left so you got to keep playing."

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle on his team's offensive success tonight:
"The best thing is we would get stops and run, and space the floor and play out of our flow game. We have veteran guys that understand the game, we try to play with as few play calls as possible, and it facilitates better when you're getting stops. If you allow them to set their defense, they're murder to play against."

Dirk Nowitzki on how they came back from a 16 point deficit at the half:
"We did a great job hanging in there. We felt like we had a bad start to the third quarter, we turned the ball over three or four times in a row, Kobe got hot in the third, we weren't looking good. You just have to stick with it, try to get some stops, and not to turn the ball over, just get a shot up every time and give ourselves at least a chance to make it. If you turn the ball over that puts them in transition, and we had a tough time matching up on transitions. Kobe had some good looks. So we had to stop turning the ball over and get some stops. Obviously in the fourth quarter when we gave up 15 points, that was big. [Jason Kidd] tried to keep the ball out of Kobe's hands, everybody else scrambled around. It was fun to watch."

Dirk Nowitzki on winning game one of the series here in Los Angeles:
"Definitely a great win for us. But if you look at their last series, they lost game 1 and they came right back and won the two and had the series back in control. We'd love to go forward to game two. More of the same, turn the ball over less. We felt like we held our own on the boards, that's a big key for us, that we rebound with them. I think we kept the rebound game within four or five rebounds. I think we give ourselves a chance to get out there and win the game."

Dirk Nowitzki on if this season is the most comfortable he's felt in his basketball career:
"Obviously experience helps. I've been in this league now for a long time. I've been in big games. The game slows down more when you get older, you take your time and you try to get to your spot where you know you have an advantage. You just try to execute. But, we know they're going to come out in the second game and be even better, so we've got to make sure we show up as well."

Dirk Nowitzki on how they kept Artest and Bynum to a combined 10 points:
"I thought Ron actually had some good looks, he was just not making his shots. They've got so many weapons offensively, you've got to give up something here and there. I thought he had some good looks that he's probably going to make in game 2. So we've got to be even sharper and scramble a little more…And Tyson and Haywood tried to keep [Bynum] a little further off the glass. You know, when he gets deep he's a monster. He just turns around, over either shoulder and there's nothing you can do about it. So, I think they just did a good job mixing it up on them and trying to keep Bynum away from the glass."

Mavericks' guard Jason Terry on overcoming a 16 point deficit:
"That's what we've been living on all year. You know, we're a veteran team, when we face adversity we don't get down, we stick together and we find a way. That's what we do."

Mavericks' guard Jason Terry on the Mavericks bench play:
"Well we did our job. Our job is to come in, provide energy, make plays and maintain or assist in the lead and I thought we did that for the most part. And again, we still didn't play our best game, we got some things to look at and go forward."

Mavericks' guard Jason Terry on what was learned from tonight's game:
"That we're not going to quit. We're not going to back down. At the same time it wasn't our best game. I mean, if you look at it they get a 16 point lead on us and that's tough. It's tough to fight back from that far."

Mavericks' center Tyson Chandler on the team's focus:
"I think what we've been doing since training camp. You know, we fought each other hard in training camp and we set a common goal and we're far from that goal but we're on the right path."

Mavericks' center Tyson Chandler on the Mavericks' team defense:
"We played defense. Jason Kidd looked like the young Jason Kidd out there running all over the place. Our communication was great and I think we match up well with their bigs down low."

Mavericks' center Tyson Chandler on the Mavericks' chances and the Lakers size:
"I like our chances; I think we match up well. We've got to constantly keep bodies on those guys. You know, Pau's one of the more skilled big men in the league and Bynum is one of the more bigger big men in the league, so definitely we've got to keep them away from the basket, keep them away from easy things but when you break down the tape from our previous games you see a lot of mistakes that we made."

Mavericks' center Tyson Chandler on sticking to the teams game plan:
"We just stuck with our game plan. Just trusting one another, continuing to grind it out. We knew Kobe came out hot, he looked aggressive, and hit a lot of shots but we felt like if we continued to stick to our game plan eventually we'd wear down on them."

Mavericks' center Tyson Chandler on Kobe Bryant:
"It's just Kobe. You've just got to keep your focus. He's one of the greatest players of all time, and he does some amazing things out there, but regardless of what he does you've got to stick to your principles and continue to play."

Mavericks' forward Shawn Marion on tonight's win:
"It's a good win. Way to fight back and way to stay after it. I think we didn't give up and we stayed aggressive on both ends of the floor."


Mavericks' forward Shawn Marion on the final moments:
"I think that was a good series for us. We saw a lot of things that we're capable of and it helped get us to where we need to be at. I think this is a great game. Neither team scored 100, right? So I guess that's a streak too. Portland didn't score 100 against us did they? I just look at it like we're playing good 'D' out there and we've got to take advantage of that and just helping each other on the floor."

Mavericks' guard Jason Kidd on tonight's win:
"I think the big thing is we got to win. Character was a big factor in tonight's game. We lost our composure today at the end of the 2nd quarter, and then came out and lost the ball three straight times and found ourselves down, but everybody's role is to keep playing and try and cut into the lead and see what happens."

Mavericks' guard Jason Kidd on overcoming a 16 point deficit:
"I think everybody on this team has been in a situation where they've been down. We can all reflect on that first round that we were down 20, and we were up 20 plus and lost the lead and the game, so sometimes you can reflect as close as that last series and pull from it. But guys started to relax I think a little bit and we started making plays."

Mavericks' guard Jason Kidd on the magnitude of tonight's win:
'We can say that we didn't play our best game but we found a way to win. That's the bottom line this time of year. You want to be the first team to four, and we found a way to win game one but again the Lakers have been in this position a lot of times and they've found a way to win the series so we haven't done anything yet."

LAKERS VS. MAVERICKS GAME 1 PREVIEW

By GREG BEACHAM

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) The Los Angeles Lakers will have to pick on somebody their own size to make it to another Western Conference finals.

For all of Kobe Bryant's brilliance, the Lakers' back-to-back title runs were built on the defensive dominance and offensive mismatches created by their two 7-footers, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Few teams can match Los Angeles' sheer size when 6-10 Lamar Odom is in the mix, and even fewer can overcome it in the paint.

But their second-round opponent is the Dallas Mavericks, whose roster is stacked with three talented 7-footers: Tyson Chandler, Brendan Haywood and superstar Dirk Nowitzki. Although the Mavs do different things with their size, Gasol knows the Lakers probably won't push anybody around in the next two weeks.

Gasol is facing a long series keeping up with Nowitzki - and hopefully forcing Dirk to keep up with him.

"We always have an advantage inside, as far as our size and our skills, (but) we just have to work to make it work," Gasol said Saturday after the Lakers' extra-long practice at their training complex. "I expect a physical series, because that's what it's going to take. I don't know about the chippiness, but I'm sure there's going to be physical plays."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson emphasized what his club should expect from the series by tucking a photograph of a huge longhorn steer inside his players' game plans.

Indeed, beef will be a key when the Lakers attempt to play from the inside out in this meeting of two perennial playoff teams that somehow haven't run into each other in the postseason since 1988.

Nowitzki and Gasol have a healthy mutual respect after several years of regular meetings, including two games won by the Lakers in the last six weeks of the regular season. Gasol praises Nowitzki as a unique player with his famed mix of size and delicate shooting touch, while Nowitzki is impressed by Gasol's offensive versatility and passing skills.

"They've got a bunch of guys that can score," Nowitzki said. "That's why they're one of the deepest teams, especially the front line. Gasol is long. He's been working on his mid-range shot. He can (shoot with) both hands, and he's a great scorer on the block. So yeah, I've got to play both ends of the floor in this series. I've got to be ready."

Game 1 at Staples Center is Monday night, giving both teams an extra day to recover from draining six-game victories in the first round. The Lakers bounced back from a series-opening loss to New Orleans, while Dallas won two straight after blowing a 23-point lead in Game 4 against Portland.

"We improved," Bryant said. "We had a couple of setbacks, but that was more due to Chris Paul."

Bryant also sprained his left ankle in Game 4, but came back with two strong efforts on his remarkably tenacious joints. Bryant shrugged off any worries about his ankle Saturday, but Jackson said the injury "still affects him a lot."

"This is not going to go away any time soon," Jackson added. "He'll have a limited amount of practice, so we have to put him in the best positions to help."

The Mavericks paid close attention to Paul's success on pick-and-roll plays for the Hornets. The play is a standard approach for most Los Angeles opponents, although the Lakers' defense on the play improved during the first-round series.

"You've got to be able to move that front line, I think," Nowitzki said. "That's not a secret. If you just pound it on the strong side, they're very good, they're very long. (Ron) Artest is very long, Kobe, for (a shooting guard), is very long, and, obviously, that front line. So we've got to be able to move them some, and then penetrate them. That's not a secret."

Gasol doesn't possess Nowitzki's outside shooting skills, but he's a remarkably resourceful scorer who can shoot with either hand. Nowitzki sometimes struggles on offense when he's forced to work extra hard on defense, and the Lakers are counting on Gasol and Odom to keep Nowitzki busy.

"Both of them are highly skilled, both of them are All-Stars, and both of them are at the top of their games, so it's a great matchup," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "We'll have other guys guarding Gasol as well. It's not just going to be Dirk."

Carlisle wants his inside defenders to keep the ball away from Gasol and Bynum in the low post. Bynum was particularly effective down low against the Hornets, helping to get Emeka Okafor into near-constant foul trouble, and Carlisle realizes the Mavs can't afford the same problems for Chandler.

"We had success in the last series because we were able to guard our positions," Carlisle said. "We did little, if any, double-teaming. This series might be a little different because of the magnitude of some of their star players, but as much as possible, we have to guard our position and take that challenge. That's a big key to success in playoff basketball."

Copyright 2011 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

JACKSON-LED TEAMS A TOUGH OUT WHEN PLAYING FROM AHEAD
When Phil Jackson wins Game 1 of any playoff series, best-of-five or best-of-seven, his teams are 48-0, having gone 24-0 with Chicago and 24-0 with the Lakers. When Jackson-led teams open a series with a 2-0 lead, he is 36-0 all-time. And when holding a series lead of any kind, Jackson's teams are 55-1 all-time.

BRYANT CONTINUES DOUBLE-FIGURE PLAYOFF SCORING STREAK
With 24 points April 28 at New Orleans, Kobe Bryant scored 10+ points in a playoff game for the 155th consecutive time. Earlier this series, Bryant scored 17 points 4/24/11 at New Orleans despite going scoreless in the first half of a playoff game for the first time since 5/25/04 vs. Minnesota. Also, Bryant's 11 points 4/20/11 vs. New Orleans were the fewest during the streak, which began in Game 6 of the 2000 NBA Finals vs. Indiana (6/19/2000), since he scored 11 points in Game 3 of the 2004 NBA Finals at Detroit (6/10/04). The only streak longer than Bryant's in NBA history is Michael Jordan's run of 179 consecutive double-figure scoring playoff games from 4/19/85 – 6/14/98 (end of his career).

BRYANT AVERAGES 20+ POINTS FOR FRANCHISE RECORD 29th STRAIGHT PLAYOFF SERIES
With 24 points in the Lakers 98-80 Game 6 victory over New Orleans in the 2011 Western Conference First Round, Kobe Bryant concluded the series with a 22.5 ppg scoring average. In doing so, Bryant recorded his 29th consecutive playoff series averaging 20+ points per game, the longest such streak in Lakers history. Bryant last failed to average 20 points in a playoff series in the 2000 Finals vs. Indiana (15.6 ppg).*

STAPLES CENTER ADVANTAGE
Since moving to STAPLES Center prior to the 1999-2000 season, the Lakers have won 84% of their postseason home games (76-15). The Lakers have topped the century mark in over half of their postseason home games at STAPLES Center (53-of-91) while the opposition has been held under 100 points in all but 27 of those games. Since the start of the 2008 NBA Playoffs, the Lakers are 33-5 in games played at STAPLES Center. The Lakers had won 12 straight home playoff games dating back to the 2009 Western Conference Finals before losing Game 2 of to 2010 NBA Finals at home.

JACKSON'S SPARKLING PLAYOFF RESUME
Last postseason, with the Lakers victory over Utah in Game 1 of the 2010 Conference Semifinals, Phil Jackson won for the 103rd time with the Lakers in the playoffs, passing Pat Riley (102) for most playoff victories in Lakers franchise history. Overall, Jackson owns a 229-100 postseason record, with his 229 victories being the most of any NBA coach in playoff history. Additionally, Jackson's 329 career playoff games are also the most of any coach in playoff history, while his .696 postseason win percentage is tops among all coaches as well. With the Lakers 2010 NBA Championship, Jackson (11 as head coach, 2 as player) further surpassed legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach (9) for most championships won by a head coach while also further passing fellow Hall-of-Famer Bill Russell (11) for most championships won by a player/coach. Jackson has taken his teams to the NBA Finals 13 times, tying him with NHL coaching legend Scotty Bowman for most trips to the Finals in a major professional sport played in the United States.

BRYANT'S 80 30+ POINT GAMES TRAIL ONLY MICHAEL JORDAN IN NBA PLAYOFF HISTORY
With 30 points 4/22 at New Orleans, Kobe Bryant recorded his 80th career 30+ point playoff game, moving him further past both Jerry West (74) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (75) for the second most 30+ point playoff games in NBA history. Only Michael Jordan (109) has more 30+ point playoff games than Bryant. Elgin Baylor (60) and Shaquille O'Neal (55) round out the all-time list. Bryant, who recorded his first 30+ point playoff game in the 2000 NBA Playoffs, posted 14 30+ point games during the 2010 Championship run and 15 during the 2009 Championship postseason.

FISHER AND BRYANT WIN ANOTHER SERIES
With the Lakers victory over the Hornets in the 2011 Western Conference First Round, Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant added another series victory to their playoff resume. Among all active players, nobody has won more postseason series than Fisher (34). Shaquille O'Neal (33) and Bryant (32) rank 2nd and 3rd respectively.*

ARTEST WINS J. WALTER KENNEDY CITIZENSHIP AWARD
On Tuesday, April 26, the NBA announced Ron Artest as the recipient of the 2010-11 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. The award, presented annually by the Professional Basketball Writers Association, is named for the second commissioner of the league and honors an NBA player or coach for outstanding service and dedication to the community. Artest won for his tireless efforts to promote awareness of mental health, including fund-raising, appearing before Congress in support of Mental Health in Schools Act and his all-around advocacy on the issue. He also raffled off his 2010 Championship Ring, raising more than $650,000 for mental health awareness, and took part in a public service announcement in conjunction with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. Artest is the third Laker to earn the honor since the award's inception prior to the 1974-75 season, joining Michael Cooper (1985-86) and Earvin "Magic" Johnson (1991-92). Vlade Divac (1999-00 with Sacramento) and Brian Grant (1998-99 with Portland) are former Lakers who have also been honored with the award while on other teams.

ODOM NAMED SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR
On Tuesday, April 19, the NBA announced Lamar Odom as the recipient of the 2010-11 Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award. The honor, voted on by a panel of 117 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada, is the first for Odom as well as the first for a Lakers player since the award's inception prior to the 1982-83 season. Odom received 513 of a possible 585 points, including 96 of a possible 117 first-place votes. Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks finished second with 244 points while Thaddeus Young of the Philadelphia 76ers finished third with 76 points. In order to be eligible for this award, players had to have come off the bench in more games than they started (Odom came off the bench in 47 contests). Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote. As part of its support of the Sixth Man Award, Kia Motors America donated a new Kia Sorento CUV to the Lakers Youth Foundation (the charity of Odom's choice) whose goal is to assist nonprofit community organizations.

Odom, a two-time NBA Champion and member of the gold medal winning 2010 USA Basketball Men's World Championship team, appeared in all 82 games for the Lakers this season, averaging 14.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 32.2 minutes. Ranked 15th among league leaders in rebounds and 11th (.530) in field goal percentage, Odom recorded 28 double-doubles on the season while scoring 20-plus points 14 times. Earlier this season, he became the 23rd player in NBA history to reach 12,000 career points, 7,000 career rebounds and 3,000 career assists as well as the 9th fastest ever to do so in terms of games (821).