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Few have questioned L.A.’s place as the team to beat in the Western Conference, particularly since the defending champion Lakers (43-14) have built a solid 5.5-game lead on second place Denver (37-19).

But after making a trade with Washington that netted Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson for Josh Howard, James Singleton and Drew Gooden, the Dallas Mavericks (36-21) have thrust themselves into the “Who’s second best in the West?” argument along with Denver and Utah (36-20).

Howard – who sadly tore his ACL on Monday night – was plagued by injuries for the past two years in Dallas, most notably a bad ankle that had limited his productivity on the wing for the Mavs, and Butler’s been a significant upgrade. Haywood, stepping right into a starting role at center in the absence of Erick Dampier (dislocated middle finger), has been arguably even better.

The Mavericks lost their first game after the trade in Oklahoma City, 99-86, as Butler struggled with his shot (4-of-16) and the Thunder won for the eighth straight time. But since then, Dallas has barely been threatened in a 4-0 spurt including victories over Phoenix (107-97), at Orlando (95-85), Miami (97-91) and Indiana (91-82).

Butler has been good for 14.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.4 steals while working to find his rhythm on offense (37 percent from the field), while Haywood has averaged 11.2 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.4 blocks on 55 percent shooting, highlighted by a 20-rebound effort against the Pacers. Stevenson has played only 28 total minutes, scoring seven points with four rebounds and two assists.

Over the All-Star break in Dallas, we actually had a chance to ask Mark Cuban if the trade was made in part to better match up with the Lakers. After all, Butler knows Kobe’s game more than most, and Haywood helps the Mavs deal with L.A.’s unmatched depth in the lane. Cuban basically declined to acknowledge the inquiry, saying that Dallas was simply trying to improve itself, but it’s hard to argue that the top team in the conference wasn’t at least in consideration when the deal was made.

The first matchup came on the season’s second game (Oct. 30) for each team, the Lakers coming off a celebratory Ring Night win over the Clippers and Dallas losing a shocker at home to Washington. From the tip, L.A. simply didn’t match the intensity of the out-to-prove-something visitors, and the Mavs coasted to a 94-80 victory that featured 21 points and 10 boards from Dirk Nowitzki. L.A. shot just 39.5 percent in the loss.

The Lakers got revenge in a big way on January 3 back at STAPLES Center, however, crushing the visitors in a 131-96 beat down that saw the Lakers jump out to a 30-13 lead after the first quarter and never look back. With the starters resting in the fourth quarter (among them Andrew Bynum, who sat down after going a perfect 8-of-8 from the field), Jordan Farmar pushed his point total to 24 to lead all scorers, connecting on 6-of-8 three-pointers off the bench.

Then, 10 days later, the Purple and Gold went to Dallas sans Pau Gasol (hamstring), and with Kobe Bryant unsure if he was even going to play due to back spasms that kept him out of the fourth quarter in San Antonio the previous night, and still pulled out a tough 100-95 victory by scoring the game’s final five points. The difference maker was a Bryant jumper that broke a 95-all tie with 28 seconds remaining. Bryant took only 11 shots in the game, making five, and added two rebounds and two assists as he labored around the court.

L.A. outshot Dallas 48.8 percent to 42.9 percent in that game and got double-doubles from three players, collectively lifting up Bryant: Andrew Bynum (21 points, 11 rebounds); Lamar Odom (18 points, 14 rebounds) and Ron Artest (16 points, 11 rebounds). Nowitzki, generally covered (effectively) by Gasol with some Odom on the side, scored 30 points for the Mavericks.

That brings us to Wednesday’s game at American Airlines Center, where a new Mavericks’ team awaits after getting to watch from home as L.A. exerted full effort in Memphis on Tuesday night before Bryant’s dagger three swished home a win with 4.3 seconds to play in a 99-98 victory.

So at 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening, Dallas will get their chance to show L.A. just how good they can be.

We’ll be watching.

The last time the Lakers were in Memphis, things were just a bit off.

The details:

- LA was on the last game of an 8-game road trip, and needed a last-minute jumper from Kobe Bryant to beat Boston on the previous night.
- Memphis had won 11 straight games at home before dropping an uninspired contest to New Orleans, minus Chris Paul, in the classic we-can-relax-because-their-star-is-out trap game.
- The Lakers were tired (er, loopy) enough in the pregame locker room to spend 10 minutes giggling about a FIFA 2010 soccer match on XBOX in which Jordan Farmar and Lamar Odom upset Luke Walton and Adam Morrison.
- Bryant was well within range of surpassing Jerry West’s all-time Lakers scoring record.
- D.J. Mbenga played in the first quarter as Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum tried to find their legs on the bench.

Bryant, who’d surpass West with a third quarter dunk, went into attack mode when he seemed to sense the collective lack of energy, and finished with 44 points. He got 18 points of help from Ron Artest, but with LA down two in the final seconds after Mike Conley missed two free throws, Artest rimmed out a potential game-winning three as time expired after Bryant found him on the wing. Gasol and Bynum, meanwhile, combined for only 15 points in 56 minutes, the Lakers scoring a paltry 26 points in the paint all night.

In short, a tired group of Lakers didn’t play like themselves and seemed to hope that Bryant could steal a win late, but it wasn’t to be as Memphis snapped a five-game losing streak to the purple and gold.

However, things are quite different heading into Tuesday’s game.

First of all, Bryant hasn’t played in five games due to a left ankle injury, but is expected to start. Second, the Lakers are extremely well-rested, to the point of potential rust since a schedule quirk has kept them off since Thursday’s one-point loss to Boston. Yet and still, they’d played terrific basketball without Bryant, winning four straight before the Celtics loss and seemingly finding a nice rhythm, to which they now add Kobe.

“He practiced like he was going to go through it and play,” said Phil Jackson after Monday’s practice. “I thought his movement was good.”

Bryant called himself “good to go” and said that he feels like a gazelle.

Memphis, meanwhile, is struggling.

After that win against the Lakers, the Grizzlies dropped five straight games before beating Toronto in overtime, losing to Miami and defeating New Jersey to put them at 28-27 on the season, 2.5 games back of Portland for the eighth seed in the West. Memphis has lost four straight games at home, but at least part of its struggles can be attributed to a tough stretch in the schedule: LA will be the 15th of the Grizzlies’ last 18 opponents with a winning record.

They’re led by the front court duo of Zach Randolph, one of three players in the NBA averaging at least 20 points and 20 rebounds (Chris Bosh, David Lee), and Pau’s brother Marc Gasol, 15.0 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.58 blocks on 58 percent shooting.

While O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay have been at times terrific for Memphis on the wings, LA will likely focus its efforts on the interior with Randolph and Gasol, who outscored Pau Gasol and Bynum 33-15 and grabbed 30-of-49 team rebounds, nine fewer than LA’s total (39).

We’ll get a chance to see it at 5 p.m. on KCAL, or listen on 710 ESPN.