Dallas Mavericks owned LA Lakers, 4-0. The Lakers has gone fishing! Lol.

The LA Lakers Era has ended! Woohoo! Dallas Mavericks has eliminated the LA Lakers, 4-0 in their 2011 NBA Play-offs Semifinals match.

Here's the recap about the series match. Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports.

 

Vs.

                                                                       Mavericks win series 4-0

·                                 Game 1: DAL 96, LAL 94 Recap | Box Score

·                                 Game 2: DAL 93, LAL 81 Recap | Box Score

·                                 Game 3: LAL 92, DAL 98 Recap | Box Score

·                                 Game 4: LAL 86, DAL 122 Recap | Box Score

Mavs rally to stun Lakers in Game 1

By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports WriterMay 3, 4:26 am EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP)—When Kobe Bryant (notes) drained a 3-pointer to put the Los Angeles Lakers up by 16 points in the second half, nobody would have been surprised if the Dallas Mavericks packed it in. After all, these perennial underachievers aren’t exactly known for their playoff tenacity.

Their stirring comeback against the two-time defending champions showed that Dirk Nowitzki(notes) and his Mavs just might be capable of creating whole new reputations this spring.

Nowitzki scored 28 points and hit two go-ahead free throws with 19.5 seconds left, Jason Kidd(notes) forced a crucial turnover moments later, and the Mavericks escaped with a 96-94 victory in Game 1 on Monday night when Bryant missed two late chances to steal it back for the Lakers.

Jason Terry(notes) scored 15 points and Nowitzki had 14 rebounds for the Mavericks, who erased that huge third-quarter deficit before the dramatic finish to the perennial playoff teams’ first postseason meeting in 23 years. The Mavericks trailed 92-87 with 3:32 to play, but finished on a 9-2 run.

“I thought we did a great job hanging in there,” Nowitzki said. “It wasn’t looking good, but we talked about in the huddle. Just stick with it, try to get some stops, don’t turn the ball over, and get a shot up every time. Just at least give ourselves a chance to make it.”

They made it, all right—but only when Bryant, who scored 21 of his 36 points in the second half, couldn’t provide his usual late-game heroics.

“You’ve got to make plays, and you’ve got to dodge some bullets,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “We did both.”

After Nowitzki’s free throws gave Dallas its first lead of the second half, Bryant fell down while trying to get past Kidd to collect the ball fromPau Gasol(notes) with 5 seconds to play. After one free throw by Kidd, Bryant missed a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer off the back rim just before the buzzer.

“I think they always had hope,” Bryant said of the Mavs. “They’re in the second round. They’re here to play. I don’t really see it as a big deal. We’ve got to improve.”

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 Game 1 after winning six straight openers over the previous two seasons. 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.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson blamed the loss on one stretch of awful basketball: Right after Los Angeles completed a 21-2 run spanning halftime to take a 60-44 lead on Bryant’s 3, Dallas made a 20-6 run.

“We felt like we gave the game away,” Jackson said. “I’m not so sure Dallas didn’t outplay us, but the players felt like we gave it away. … The game was won in the third quarter when we got the lead and stopped playing defense and stopped playing offense. It took a lot of energy out of us, and put a lot of energy in them, to be able to do that. That shows a lot of heart on their part.”

Terry scored 13 points in the first half to lead the Mavs’ reserves, who outscored Los Angeles’ bench 40-25. But the Lakers took a 53-44 halftime lead with a 14-2 run that included four points in the final 0.7 seconds.

Terry got too close to Lamar Odom’s(notes) last-ditch heave from halfcourt right before the buzzer, and Odom—who finished with 15 points—made three free throws. Nowitzki then got a technical foul for throwing an aggressive elbow under the hoop while scrapping with Ron Artest(notes), and Bryant hit a final free throw.

Both teams put aside the ugliness of their ejection-filled meeting on March 31 while preparing for the franchises’ first postseason meeting since the 1988 Western Conference finals.

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 took control against the Hornets after the opening stunner, while the Mavericks bounced back admirably after blowing a 23-point lead in a Game 4 loss to Portland.

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 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.

Dirk blasts Lakers again, sends Mavs to 2-0 lead

By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer May 5, 4:55 am EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP)—The Dallas Mavericks have seen this playoff scenario many times before.

The higher-seeded team is reeling after two embarrassing losses, with its tentative play leading to locker-room discord and wholesale fan panic.

It’s just that the Mavs are usually living this nightmare, not causing it for somebody else—and certainly not for the two-time defending NBA champion Lakers, who left Staples Center on Wednesday night wondering whether they’ll be back this spring.

Dirk Nowitzki(notes) scored 24 points, Shawn Marion(notes) added 14 and the Mavericks beat Los Angeles 93-81 in Game 2, taking a 2-0 second-round lead with consecutive road wins.

“If you would have told me before that were going to win both games, that would have been hard to believe,” Nowitzki said. “But I think we earned it.”

Jason Kidd(notes) scored 10 points in a balanced scoring effort for the Mavericks, who pushed the Lakers halfway to playoff elimination with Nowitzki’s stellar shooting, steady defense and a decisive 9-0 fourth-quarter rally. Dallas did nothing spectacularly well, yet was significantly better than the cold-shooting Lakers on both ends.

Dallas has endured a decade of playoff disappointment under owner Mark Cuban, including just one playoff series victory in the previous four postseasons since the Mavericks’ only NBA finals appearance.

Time and again, Nowitzki and his revolving cast of teammates have flopped in pressure playoff situations—but these taller, tougher Mavs certainly appear primed to change their reputation with two more wins, starting in Game 3 on Friday night in Dallas.

“We talked about it, and this series is far from over,” said Nowitzki, who again proved to be nearly unguardable for the Lakers. “I’ve been around a long time. I’ve been up 2-0 before and ended up losing the series. I’ve been down 2-0, lost both home games … and came back and won in Game 7. We’ve seen a lot of things happen in this league. We have to stay focused, stay together.”

Kobe Bryant(notes) scored 23 points for the Lakers, who hadn’t lost the first two games of a playoff series since the 2008 NBA finals—also the last series they lost. Only three NBA teams have come back to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first two at home, where dismayed fans sent the Lakers off with boos and jeers.

“Desperate? That’s a strong word,” Bryant said. “I think when you play desperate, you don’t play your best basketball. What we need to do is relax, focus on what we’re doing wrong and the mistakes that we’re making, and we have plenty to review and lock in on that.”

Los Angeles missed its first 15 3-point attempts before Bryant’s 3-pointer with 2:43 left. Los Angeles finished 2 for 20 on 3-pointers, but the Lakers also appeared simply exhausted during long stretches of their 75th playoff game in the last four seasons.

Center Andrew Bynum(notes) saw another reason for the Lakers’ frustrations.

“It’s deeply rooted at this point. It’s obvious that we have trust issues, individually,” said Bynum, who had 18 points and 13 rebounds. “All 13 of our guys have trust issues right now. I think it’s quite obvious to anyone watching the game—hesitation on passes, and defensively we’re not being a good teammate because he wasn’t there for you before—little things. And unless we come out and discuss them, nothing is going to change.”

Bryant wrote off Bynum’s comments as concerns about the Lakers’ defensive communication.

“I think the trust that he’s referring to is being able to help each other on the defensive end of the floor,” Bryant said. “You saw a lot of layups. He gets frustrated when he supports a guard coming off the screen-and-roll and nobody supports him.”

But Los Angeles also could be without its defensive stopper in Dallas:Ron Artest(notes) was ejected with 24.4 seconds left for clotheslining Dallas guard J.J. Barea(notes), possibly leading to a suspension. Even Lakers coach Phil Jackson conceded “there’s a good chance” he won’t have Artest on Friday.

“It’s not a basketball play, so we’ll see what happens,” Barea said.

The Mavericks protected the rim and largely controlled the tempo in Game 2, using their advantages in depth and athleticism to limit the Lakers’ offense.

Barea had 12 points and four assists, and he led the Mavs’ fourth-quarter rally while Cuban led the cheers behind Dallas’ bench. Even Bryant was powerless to stop it, going scoreless in the fourth until hitting two free throws with 3:11 to play.

Bynum and Pau Gasol(notes) haven’t been able to control the paint with their usual vehemence against the Mavericks’ three 7-footers. Gasol had 13 points and 10 rebounds, but appeared tentative for long stretches while struggling to contain Nowitzki.

Nowitzki came out firing again in Game 2, scoring 15 points in the first half with the 7-footer’s usual array of impossible-to-block fallaway jumpers. The Lakers ran several defenders at him, using Gasol and Lamar Odom(notes)before trying Artest in the second quarter.

NOTES: Bryant has 5,246 career playoff points, trailing former teammateShaquille O’Neal(notes) by two points for third place on the NBA’s career playoff scoring list. O’Neal is injured and sitting for the Boston Celtics this spring. … Dallas is the most recent NBA team to win a series after losing the first two games at home, doing it in 2005 against Houston. … Fans near courtside included Larry David, directors McG and Brett Ratner, Bridget Moynahan, Eliza Dushku, George Lopez, Dax Shepard, Anthony Anderson, Holly Robinson Peete and Jaime Murray.

Kobe not counting out Lakers despite 3-0 deficit

By JAIME ARON, AP Sports WriterMay 7, 4:17 am EDT

DALLAS (AP)—Kobe Bryant(notes) knows the deal. His Los Angeles Lakers are down 0-3 to the Dallas Mavericksand none of the 98 NBA teams facing that deficit have ever come back to win a series.

Yet Bryant also knows his team has won the last two championships, and reached the finals three straight years. And that his soon-to-be-retired coach has won a record 11 championships and has never been swept in his 20 years on the sideline.

Bryant also realizes how close his team is to leading this series 2-1. They blew a 16-point lead in the opener, losing only in the final seconds, and on Friday night they fell apart down the stretch again on the way to a 98-92 loss.

So, with all that in mind, he made this declaration following the Game 3 defeat: “I think we’re still going to win the series.”

Confidence, eh? Well, he also prefaced that line by laughing and saying, “I might be sick in the head or crazy.”

The Lakers have mostly themselves to blame for being in this predicament. Leading by seven with 5:05 left, and having controlled the game throughout the second half, they got sloppy on defense. They gave Dirk Nowitzki(notes),Jason Terry(notes) and Peja Stojakovic(notes) wide open shots, and that turned things around in a hurry.

A 20-7 closing run jump-started by 3s from Nowitzki and Stojakovic put the Mavericks on the verge of not only winning this series, but pulling off a sweep. Dallas can move to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2006 with a victory at home on Sunday.

“We’re not good enough to relax or take the pedal off the metal,” Nowitzki said. “You don’t want to ever give a champion life, so hopefully we can have the same effort and the same crowd and a great game on Sunday.”

The Mavericks scored 32 points in the fourth quarter, the most by either team in any period this series. Bryant said the Lakers helped by making “some of the dumbest defensive mistakes I’ve seen us make all year.”

“We’re disappointed,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who has never been down 0-3 in a series, much less been swept, in 20 years as an NBA coach. “We feel like Games 1 and 3 we controlled the pace of the games. They were better at finishing the games than we were. But we still believe we’re going to win the next game and we’ll go from there.”

Nowitzki and the Mavericks want to get this over with as soon as possible.

This veteran-filled club would love to avoid another long round-trip flight and to start resting up for the next series. Dallas would be the home team in the conference finals, regardless of whether Oklahoma City or Memphis advances.

For a franchise that’s perennially underachieved, and is still trying to overcome blowing a 2-0 lead in the 2006 NBA finals, ending this series Sunday also would send a great message about their chances of winning their first title. It also would avoid any chance of yet another postseason disaster.

“We don’t want to open the door for them because then it will be hard to close,” forward Shawn Marion(notes) said.

Missing the suspended Ron Artest(notes), Jackson gambled with a starting lineup featuring 6-foot-10 Lamar Odom(notes) at small forward, alongside 7-footers Andrew Bynum(notes) and Pau Gasol(notes). The Lakers logically pounded the ball inside with great results. Even Bryant started getting into the paint, making his first layup of the series.

Perhaps Artest’s absence caught up to them at the end. Jackson acknowledged “there was some fatigue factor in there.” He also admitted that his super-sized lineup was much better protecting the paint than defending the 3-point line.

And there was that Nowitzki fellow.

Dallas’ superstar scored 32 points, making 12 of 19 shots. With the Lakers’ big guys crowding the lane, he went back to his roots and got comfortable behind the 3-point line, burying 4 of 5. He only attempted four free throws, but made them all.

“Just about everything that happened down the stretch was a direct result of him either scoring the ball or making a play to get somebody a shot, or make a pass for an assist for a 3 or a 2 or whatever it was,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said.

A record Dallas crowd of 21,156—most wearing royal-blue giveaway T-shirts that read, “The Time Is Now,” with the Mavs logo in place of the basketball on top of the championship trophy—went through the usual chants of “De-fense!” and “Beat LA!” without much impact through the first three quarters. With the game on the line, they got to their feet and helped the home team sustain its final push.

Terry scored 23, including some of the points that helped ice the victory in the closing minutes. Stojakovic scored 11 of his 15 in the final quarter. Jason Kidd(notes) added 11 points and nine assists.

Bynum had 21 points and 10 rebounds. Odom scored 18 and Bryant scored 17. He had only four points in the final quarter.

Gasol had 12 points and Shannon Brown (notes) provided a spark off the bench with 10.

“We have a decision to make, whether it’s our time or somebody else’s time,” Odom said. “How do you want your story to play out?”

Notes: Since the last time the Lakers were swept (1999), they have pulled off seven sweeps. That includes against Kidd and the Nets in the 2002 NBA finals. … Dallas has been up 3-0 twice before. In 2006, the Mavericks went on to sweep the Grizzlies. In 2003, they needed seven games to eliminate Portland. … Bryant passed Shaquille O’Neal (notes) to move into third place on the career postseason scoring list. With 5,263, he trails only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (5,762) and Michael Jordan (5,987).

Mavs eliminate Lakers, sweep Jackson to retirement

By JAIME ARON, AP Sports Writer May 8, 11:14 pm EDT

DALLAS (AP)—Jason Terry(notes) tied an NBA playoff record with nine 3-pointers and the Dallas Mavericksmatched another postseason mark with 20 3s, powering them to a 122-86 victory over the Los Angeles Lakerson Sunday and a sweep of their second-round series.

The victory puts the Mavs in the Western Conference finals, ends the latest Lakers dynasty and sends Phil Jackson—the most successful coach in NBA history — into retirement.

Terry made five 3s in the second quarter, personally outscoring Los Angeles 20-16 in the period and helping Dallas lead by 24 at halftime. When Terry made 3s on consecutive possessions early in the third quarter, he drained whatever comeback hopes the Lakers had left.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Lakers were so devastated that Lamar Odom(notes) and Andrew Bynum(notes) resorted to throwing cheap shots. They were ejected 45 seconds apart, with Jackson sitting on the bench looking as if he’d already checked out. Kobe Bryant(notes) soon joined him on the sideline, with deep reserves playing out the final minutes of what turned out to be the second-widest margin of defeat in Lakers playoff history and in Jackson’s storied playoff career.

Jackson left the court with a tight smile, accepting hugs and handshakes from Dallas coach Rick Carlisle, Jason Kidd(notes) and Mark Cuban. It was the first time he’d been swept in his 21 postseasons on the sideline. It hadn’t happened to Bryant and the Lakers since 1999, the year before the Zen Master arrived in Los Angeles. This is the fourth time any NBA champion defending multiple titles has been swept, according to STATS LLC. The last was the 1996 Houston Rockets.

For Nowitzki and the Mavs, clearing this hurdle sets them up for a chance to redeem themselves for flopping during the 2006 NBA finals and for flaming out in every postseason since.

Dallas will host either Oklahoma City or Memphis in the conference finals. The Grizzlies lead the Thunder 2-1 going into Game 4 on Monday night. The next round likely won’t start before next Sunday, a layoff that could pay huge dividends for a roster filled with players in their 30s.

Then again, they might want to keep playing the way they’re going.

Terry made 11 of 14 shots for 32 points, missing more inside the arc than outside. He fell a few points shy of his most in a playoff game only because the game was such a blowout. J.J. Barea(notes) set a career playoff-best with 22 points and Peja Stojakovic(notes) added 21 points. All three of those guys come off the bench.

Nowitzki scored 17 points—his fewest this postseason. Dallas was so good in this game it hardly needed its best player. He was still in during the fourth quarter and took the blindside blow that led to Odom’s ejection.

PS:To Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson and the rest of LA Lakers; NANANANA NANANANA HEY HEY HEY GOODBYE!!!! Lol.