Perhaps the most interesting aspect coming out of Saturday’s practice deals not with Sunday’s game against Dallas (12:30 p.m.), but the fact that Dallas may well be L.A.’s first round opponent in the playoffs…
Or not.
As things currently sit in the Western Conference, the Lakers (52-13) hold an essentially insurmountable 8.5 game lead over the second-place San Antonio Spurs with 17 games left to play. But while the Mavericks (40-26) hold a similarly commanding 5.5 game lead over ninth place Phoenix, it’s not unlikely that Dallas will move up a spot or two. Denver (41-25), Portland (41-24), New Orleans (41-23), Utah (41-24) and Houston (43-24) are all within only 2.5 games of the Mavs, who are coming off a road win in Portland and narrow loss at Golden State.
Accordingly, Phil Jackson wasn’t even willing to entertain thoughts of a potential first-round matchup.
A more pertinent question involves balancing minutes for the Lakers’ stars while trying not to lose any ground to Boston (50-16) and Cleveland (52-13) in a race for the league’s overall top record and potential home court advantage in the Finals.
“It’s tough to do that when the competition (level) is so high, because we definitely want to pursue that home court … but at the same time you don’t want to be too worn out for the playoffs,” said Pau Gasol, whose minutes have gone up considerably in Andrew Bynum’s absence. “The coaching staff will have to think about making an adjustment.”
Indeed, but for now, Jackson’s more worried about the Mavericks.
“I think they’ve been playing really well,” said Jackson. “(Owner Mark) Cuban jacked them up a few weeks ago … They’re playing really hard and look determined. They have a squad of guys that can really carry them now.”
While Jason Kidd has become quite comfortable running the show, averaging 8.4 assists alongside 6.3 boards, 9.4 points and 2.2 steals, it’s Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry that Jackson said L.A. will need to limit offensively, something Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom did well earlier in the season.
“(Maybe he just) had bad nights on his part, off nights,” said Gasol. “Great players are extremely hard to stop even if you’re playing at your best - you just have to make sure to contest his shots, stay in front of him and not let him get too comfortable.”
When L.A. beat Dallas 106-99 in Texas early in November, L.A.’s front line held Dirk to only 14 points on 5-of-17 shooting. Two weeks later at STAPLES, Nowitzki wasn’t much better in a 114-107 loss to the Lakers, scoring 19 points on 7-of-15 from the field. One key player Dallas missed in those two contests was Josh Howard, who’s been out for the Mavericks’ past four games with an ankle injury, and may well miss Sunday’s game. He’s listed as day-to-day, though no timetable has been established for his return.
