The Season is Over: Lakers-Mavs Game 4 Recap

Written By: Steven Almazan

The Los Angeles Lakers were down 0 – 3 in the series against the Dallas Mavericks before the start of Game 4, and they had a huge hole to dig themselves out of if they wanted to keep breathing. Unfortunately, the Mavericks were able to completely bury the Lakers for good in the sold-out crowd of the American Airlines Center. The deep blue sea of fans that surrounded the court Sunday afternoon tasted blood in the water, and the Mavs were able to attack aggressively the entire night.

The Lakers were expected by the NBA community to redeem their lackluster performance in the previous three meetings with some sort of historic and monumental effort, but all they could provide was disappointment in the hearts of Lakers fans across the nation. There was no fire in the eyes of the softhearted Pau Gasol who had struggled this entire postseason. There was no Sixth-Man award performance by Lamar Odom, or any type of contribution from the Laker bench. There was no MVP-like performance from the phenomenal Bryant, who may have experienced his last game under the guidance of the legendary Phil Jackson. There was no point in the game which made Lakers fans jump to their feet and believe that this could in fact still be a series.

Even though Kobe Bryant came out of the gates with a mission to bring his team from a huge deficit into a realistic series, his efforts were entirely overshadowed by the strong, collective performance of the Mavericks. Bryant had a strong start to the game scoring 12 points in the first quarter, but that was his only offensive burst as he began to slow down and rely on other players to step up. Unfortunately for Bryant and Coach Jackson, they could not find any answer to the pummeling that the Mavericks ensued.

The Mavericks and their stellar bench were remarkable the entire night, crushing the dreams of Jackson and Bryant of repeating a consecutive three-peat. They were able to spread out the entire floor with open jump shots from behind the arch and utilize their zone defense against the lost Lakers. The Lakers could not stop the great ball movement from the Mavs who continuously found open shooters and, most importantly, found the confidence to stare in the eyes of the champions.

Jason Terry rightfully stripped the Sixth-Man award from Lamar Odom, and made a case as the best bench contributor by having his own historic night with 9 for 10 on three-point attempts and a total of 32 points. As Terry attempted each 3-point shot, the fans expected the ball to reach the bottom of the net. The Jet flew across the court after each successful attempt and knew that he would be guiding the Mavs to their first Western Conference Finals since 2006.

Next: The End of a Dynasty?

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Dirk Nowitzki was more of a quiet contributor for the night as he only posted 17 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. However, the Mavs’ benched propelled the team to the finish line. It was just one of the those nights for the Mavs bench where everything was connecting; the Dallas reserves combined to make an astonishing 86 points.

The volume of points is not the most shocking part of this statistic; it is the fact that this is the same amount of points that the entire Lakers team scored.

In addition to the Mavericks’ bench, the entire team displayed an extraordinary effort as they converted on 60% of their field goals, in comparison to the Lakers who only converted on 37%. The Mavs also continued their magical stroke of long-range for the series by making 20 of 32 three-point buckets for the night. The Lakers could not catch up to the Mavs and they only connected on five three-pointers. The long-range shot and the bench seemed to be the separation from the two teams the entire series, and this night proved no different.

The Lakers front-court of Gasol and Bynum was once again ineffective throughout Game 4, as they only comprised to make 16 points and grab 14 rebounds. Gasol and Bynum were expected to make a presence on the court in order to turn this series around, but that was not the case as the Mavs defense swarmed their 7-foot bodies and stopped their efforts.

The only impact that any of these players made was during the 4^th quarter when Bynum intentionally and forcefully elbowed the smaller J.J. Barea as he attempted a lay-up. The Dallas fans rose to their foot and immediately roared obscenities toward the Laker bench and Bynum. In addition to this unthinkable decision by Bynum, Odom shoved Dirk Nowitzki toward the ground during the 4^th quarter due to his building frustration of the Lakers’ evident early exit.

Both Gasol and Bynum were rightfully ejected from the game in order to avoid any further altercations between the Lakers and the Mavericks. These two acts of frustration embodied the personality of the Lakers for this entire post-season, as they could not successfully find their identity as a team.

In the end, the Mavericks crushed the Lakers 122 – 86 and completed their sweep of the once intimidating champions. This was a classless and pathetic effort by the Lakers, and hopefully each player who does return for next season will view this series as a learning experience.

Many changes will need to be made during the offseason in order to realign their values and find their true identity as a team. A team cannot chase a championship title unless they have a solid understanding of who they are as a collective group, and the Lakers clearly need to have some soul searching this summer if they want to find themselves in the grasp of another title.

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