Dallas rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit Monday to shock the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers 96-94 in game one of their NBA Western Conference second-round playoff series. The Mavericks’ German star Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points — including two free throws that gave Dallas the lead with less than 20 seconds remaining. That was followed by a Lakers turnover with five seconds remaining, when superstar Kobe Bryant fell as he tried to get the ball from teammate Pau Gasol. After Dallas’ Jason Kidd made one of two free throws, Bryant missed a last-gasp three-point attempt.
Bryant finished with 36 points, 21 of them in the second half. It was the 81st 30-point playoff game of his career, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the determined Mavericks in the first postseason meeting between the two teams in 23 years. Nowitzki, who grabbed 14 rebounds, scored to close the gap to 94-93 with 40 seconds remaining.
After Jason Terry stole the ball from Bryant, Gasol fouled Nowitzki as the Mavericks inbounded the ball, and Nowitzki made his foul shots to give Dallas the lead for the first time in the second half. The Lakers host game two on Wednesday before the series shifts to Dallas for games three and four on Friday and Sunday. The winner of the series will take on either Memphis or Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals for a chance to take on a team from the East for the NBA title. Memphis defeated Oklahoma City 114-101 in their series opener on Sunday.
Eastern Conference: Joe Johnson scored 34 points Monday to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 103-95 victory over the top-seeded Chicago Bulls in the first game of their NBA Eastern Conference second-round playoff series. In addition to the defeat on their home court, the Bulls saw Most Valuable Player candidate Derrick Rose limp off at the end of the contest after he twisted an ankle when he stepped on Jamal Crawford’s foot in the waning seconds.
The Hawks jumped to an early lead, then saw Chicago go up by as many as six points in the third quarter before Atlanta engineered a 15-2 scoring run spanning the third and fourth quarters. Johnson drained three three-pointers and scored 11 points in the surge, which saw the Hawks take an 80-71 lead with less than 11 minutes to play. The victory was a vindication for an Atlanta team that felt overlooked at the end of the regular season when Orlando’s Jameer Nelson was caught on television telling Rose he would see him “in the second round”.
The Hawks made sure that did not happen by ousting Orlando in the first round, but they were again the underdogs against a Bulls team that won a league-best 62 games in the regular season. Johnson was superb, making 12 of his 18 shots, including all five of his attempts from three-point range. Crawford scored 22 points and Jeff Teague, starting for injured Kirk Hinrich, added 10. Rose scored 24 points for Chicago, making just 11 of his 27 attempts from the field. Luol Deng scored 21 points for Chicago while Carlos Boozer added 14 points and eight rebounds despite a toe injury.
Chicago will try to get back on track when they host game two on Wednesday. The winner of the best-of-seven series will face either Boston or Miami in the Eastern Conference finals for a chance to battle a team from the West for the NBA crown. Miami beat Boston 99-90 in game one of that series on Sunday and host game two on Tuesday.
Mavs rally to shock Lakers
