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Tough LA-LA run on tap Clippers, Lakers trips haven't ended well for Mavericks in the past
by EDDIE SEFKO, Staff Writer esefko@dallasnews.com , THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
They'd gladly foot the bill if there were a couple of wins to be had. But in the eight trips Mavericks' teams have made to LA to play both the Lakers and Clips, they own a deplorable 3-13 record.
They've done the LA-LA swing just twice this decade and are 1-3.
"None of these games are going to be easy," coach Rick Carlisle said Thursday. "Check everybody's schedule in the West. We didn't play well the first game. We've worked hard the last couple days and our goal is to play better and win."
By all accounts, the two practices between the opener and tonight's game were what you'd expect from an angry team - extremely competitive, perhaps even chippy at times. After Thursday's workout, Jason Terry and Matt Carroll were slapping hands to put a confrontation during the scrimmage behind them.
That kind of competitiveness was missing in the opener.
"A lot of playing hard is about habits," Carlisle said. "We worked very hard in the preseason on the habits that translate into consistent hard play, consistent strong dispositions and [having a] consistent physical presence.
"Look, we took a step back in the Washington game, no doubt about it. That was disappointing, but you got to learn from it and get better."
The trip starts with the defending NBA champions and Kobe Bryant. The Lakers won their opener while getting their rings and Bryant appeared to be in fine form. The Lakers beat the Clippers, even with Pau Gasol out with a hamstring problem.
The Mavericks realize the degree of difficulty goes up tonight. They can't expect anything better than they got against Washington without a huge increase in effort and execution.
"It's definitely not the start we wanted," Dirk Nowitzki said. "The schedule is really tough at the beginning and Washington at home is definitely a game we had to get, but it's too late now. We got to go to LA and compete. We'll see how it goes, but we definitely got to play harder at both ends of the floor. And making some shots definitely helps."
Kobe has lots of help: The Mavericks will rotate players on Bryant tonight, and Carlisle said it's a good bet that Quinton Ross will see a lot of time on the Lakers' star.
"We're going to have to play good individual defense on him and have help ready to come," Carlisle said. "You want to take away the good, clean, wide-open looks. You got to try to put him under some duress. You don't want him to beat you single-handedly. He's as good as any player we have in the game."
The reason the Lakers are champions is because Bryant has so much help now.
"With those teammates, I guess he can pick his spots," Nowitzki said. "He doesn't have to score 40 a night like three or four years ago, when they struggled to make the playoffs where he basically had to score big numbers every game to be in the hunt.
"Now he doesn't have to do that. They got all you want on a team and they're probably the heavy favorites to repeat again, but there's a lot of season left."
Lousy in LA
The Mavericks have played consecutive games in Los Angeles only eight times since the Clippers moved from San Diego in 1984. The results have not been flattering.
Yr. Date vs. Team Results
'05 Mar. 2 Clippers 101-92 (L)
'05 Mar. 4 Lakers 108-103 (L)
'03 Dec. 10 Clippers 100-99 (L)
'03 Dec. 12 Lakers 110-93 (W)
'95 Nov. 15 Lakers 114-97 (L)
'95 Nov. 17 Clippers 101-90 (L)
'94 Mar. 10 Lakers 106-101 (L)
'94 Mar. 11 Clippers 106-96 (L)
'90 Apr. 9 Lakers 113-106 (L)
'90 Apr. 10 Clippers 98-90 (L)
'86 Apr. 12 Clippers 115-108 (L)
'86 Apr. 13 Lakers 127-104 (W)
'85 Dec. 8 Lakers 125-119 (L)
'85 Dec. 10 Clippers 120-118 (L)
'85 Jan. 18 Lakers 110-92 (L)
'85 Jan. 19 Clippers 101-100 (W)
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