Recap: Mavericks 70 at Lakers 73

Earl K. Sneed reports from Los Angeles and recaps the Dallas Mavericks' last-second loss to the Lakers, after the defending champions had their five-game win streak snapped to ruin Lamar Odom's return to the Staples Center.

LOS ANGELES — Despite entering Monday night’s nationally-televised matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers with his team on a five-game winning streak, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle didn’t seem too impressed with his squad’s recent play.

Admittedly downing lesser competition during the victorious stretch, Carlisle took his wait-and-see outlook into the defending champs’ showdown with the Lakers to start a four-game road trip. And with the Lakers looking to ruin Mavs forward Lamar Odom’s return to L.A. while also trying to avenge their second-round sweep in last season’s playoffs, Carlisle acknowledged that his team would have its hands full in front of the capacity crowd at the Staples Center.

“We’ve had an uptick and truthfully the last five games we’ve played four teams that have been lesser-type teams that have been depleted and then Boston, who’s struggling a little bit,” Carlisle told reporters before the opening tipoff. “You don’t take the five-game winning streak and say that we’ve become world-beaters or anything, but we’ve played better. We’ve just got to keep our competitive level high, and starting tonight this road trip is really gonna test that.”

Monday night, the Mavericks (8-6) were certainly tested, falling in the final seconds to end their win streak and begin the road trip on a sour note after a 73-70 defeat.

“Anytime, especially if it’s against your guys, guys you went to battle with,” Odom said after the loss. “Anytime you lose a close game, it hurts.”

The Mavericks would face some early adversity in the form of a 0-for-5 start for leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki. Vice versa, Odom would enter the game relaxed off the bench after receiving a standing ovation, connecting on his first jumper against his former team.

Odom then closed a rough first period for both teams with a 3-pointer to give the Mavs an 18-15 edge after one, with Dallas’ 8-of-24 shooting bettering the Lakers’ 5-of-19 at the other end.

After continuing his rough start with a sixth straight missed shot, Nowitzki would awaken in the second quarter with three jumpers to keep the Mavs in front. But like Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant would rise from his slumber after a 0-for-5 start with four scores as well to put the Lakers in front at the half, 39-35.

Led by Andrew Bynum’s 10 points on 5-of-8 from the floor and nine rebounds, the Lakers (10-5) outshot the Mavs, 41 percent to 35.7 percent, to go along with a 26-19 rebounding advantage through 24 minutes of play. Meanwhile, Odom kept the Mavs close with seven points off the Dallas bench on 3-of-5 shooting.

“I was happy for Lamar. I thought he played very well. It’s extremely difficult to come in and do what he did in the first half. He made his first two shots and made plays, and I was very proud of him. He’s been through a lot, but he’s really manned up here and we love him,” Carlisle said.

The third quarter would bring along a playoff intensity from last year with Matt Barnes called for a flagrant-1 foul for a push on a driving Nowitzki. The play ignited a fire in the Mavericks with forward Shawn Marion stealing the ball away from Bryant and feeding Nowitzki with a behind-the-back pass for a dunk before Jason Kidd’s lone jumper on the night put the Mavs up 44-43 in the early stage of the period.

The Dallas defense then did the rest while surrendering a franchise-low seven points in the period, holding the Lakers without a point for six minutes and 41 seconds before taking a 51-46 edge into the game’s final quarter.

The tightly-contested game continued into the final period before the Lakers used a mini-spurt to grab a 64-59 advantage on Derek Fisher’s breakaway score with 4:44 left, leading to Carlisle’s timeout to regroup. Nowitzki then tried to put his team on his back, trimming the deficit to 68-65 with 2:53 left after a pair of free throws. However, not to be denied was Bynum, who immediately responded with a score at the other end to widen the gap.

The Mavericks would continue to battle, though, briefly halted when Nowitzki was called for traveling with his team down two, 70-68, with just 38.7 seconds remaining. The 7-footer’s teammates would bail him out with Marion first forcing Bryant into a miss on the defensive end before Jason Terry’s floater to tie the game with 9.9 seconds left.

But Fisher immediately answered at the other end with a 3-pointer after the Mavs forced the ball out of Bryant’s hands, leaving the defending champs with 3.1 seconds to respond. It would prove to be the Lakers’ only 3-point make of the game, finishing the night 1-of-10 from deep.

“We knew we wanted to run at Kobe. We were kind of hoping they put him on the wing, so we could rotate, rotate, rotate. But they put him at top, so JET [Terry] ran at him and I rotated a little harder, knowing that Fisher made a lot of big shots in his career. I didn’t want to overrun him and give something easier up. But you have to give him credit; it was a heck of a shot by him. And that’s what he does; he makes game-winning shots.”

“We made the decision to get the ball out of Bryant’s hands and we just didn’t get to him [Fisher] in time,” Carlisle explained. “We had the full intention of rotating over to him, but he got the shot off quick and he shot it high so we couldn’t get to it. He made a great shot.”

After a timeout, Carlisle drew up a play with Kidd inbounding, finding Vince Carter at the top of the key. But the eight-time All-Star would sprain his left foot before hoisting up the shot from behind the arc, finding nothing but the back of the rim at the buzzer as the Mavs’ five-game win streak came to an end.

“I actually thought Vince had a great look — had a dribble right, had great elevation and it just happened to be a little long. But he got a good look,” Nowitzki said.

After his rough start, Nowitzki finished with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting. The only other Maverick in double figures was Odom, who finished with 10 points and four rebounds off the bench.

“I don’t want to take anything away from my time here, but in order for me to succeed, I have to move on. I plan on succeeding in this next chapter in my life, so you have to move on no matter what,” Odom said of his return.

Bynum led three Lakers in double figures with 17 points and 15 rebounds. And despite ending Bryant’s four-game stretch of 40-point games, the Mavs still surrendered 14 points and seven assists to the league’s leading scorer on 7-of-22 shooting. Fisher added 13 points including the game-winner.

Scoring a season-low in points, the Mavericks were outshot, 38.2 percent to 35 percent, although they finished with a 49-44 rebounding edge. Not shooting much better from the outside than their counterparts, Dallas finished 4-of-26 from behind the 3-point arc with Kidd 0-for-8 from deep. The Mavs also committed 15 turnovers compared to the Lakers’ 11 giveaways, with both teams scoring 11 points off the miscues.

“We couldn’t make a shot in the fourth. We couldn’t make a shot pretty much the whole night,” Kidd said. “I thought defensively we were competing. Sometimes you have to make shots too in this league and we just couldn’t do it tonight. … It was just an ugly game, but you want to win those ugly games. We just couldn’t make a shot and they made the big shot at the end.”

“We competed well in the game, but you have to make more plays on the road against a team like this. We had a lot of opportunities we didn’t cash in on. We had uncharacteristic turnovers in uncharacteristic times. When that happens, on the road especially, it’s going to make it tougher. We battled our butts off, I love that. We’re going to keep battling, but this is a tough trip and all of the games are going to be like this,” Carlisle concluded.

The Mavericks will now remain in L.A. for a team practice on Tuesday before returning to the Staples Center for Wednesday night’s matchup with the Clippers. That game will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest and nationally on ESPN at 9:30 p.m. CT.

Single-game tickets are on sale and available at the American Airlines Center North Box Office, online at mavs.com, via phone by calling 214-747-MAVS or 1-800-4NBA-TIX and all Ticketmaster outlets (Fiesta Grocery Stores, Wal-Mart, Simon Mall in Garland and the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano).

Dr. Pepper Family Nights are here! Plans include four Mavs tickets and four McDonald’s extra value meals, starting at $49. Visit mavs.com or call 214-747-MAVS for a schedule of games and to purchase tickets.