Dallas Mavericks Take Game Two from Lakers in Los Angeles

The NBA's defending champions are now down 2-0 in their second round playoff series. The Los Angeles Lakers lost both games on their home court to the Dallas Mavericks, the most recent loss coming last night 93-81. The Mavericks have come into the series with a determination not to be sent packing as they have so many times in the past few years.

Mav's star Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points in the game last night and was helped along by Shawn Marion, who had 14, and Jason Kidd who put in 10 of his own along with six assists. The Lakers on the other hand looked lost on both ends of the floor. Kobe Bryant scored 23 points, but had little help against a stingy Mavericks defense.

The Lakers missed their first 15 shot attempts from three points range and didn't make one until there were less than three minutes left in the game. Center Andrew Bynum sees the reason for the team's woes as trust issues amongst teammates. While he had a good game with 18 points and 13 rebounds, he noted that his team was hesitant to pass the ball and doing a poor job of helping on defense.

To compound the problem the Lakers will probably play without their defensive specialist Ron Artest for the next game after he was ejected late in the fourth quarter. With 24.4 seconds left in the game Artest clotheslined the Mavericks JJ Barea.

The Mavericks broke the game open in the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run that put the game out of reach for the Lakers. In the last frame the Lakers shot 35% on 7-20 shooting and couldn't catch up to the streaking Dallas. The defending champs didn't seem to have an answer for Nowitzki's fallaway shots.

The next game is on Friday night.