Texas Trip Takes a Turn for Worse

DALLAS — The Texas two-step officially became a two-stumble for the Lakers, who lost themselves, and a game along with it, for the second time in two nights in the Lone Star State.

There wasn’t a 29-point deficit in the second quarter, as there had been in San Antonio the previous night, but the Lakers staggered aplenty in a 118-104 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in front of 20,393 Wednesday at American Airlines Center.

The defense was yielding and polite against the Mavericks, a team that doesn’t mind exploiting such offerings, and the Lakers fell to 0-12 when an opponent scores 100 or more points.

“We’ve had two games where our defense has let us down. We’ve just got to do it or else we’re going to fall out of it,” Laker Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said.

Making matters that much more dire, center Vlade Divac decided a few hours before tipoff to have back surgery today that will keep him out until early April.

On top of it all, Wednesday’s loss, coupled with two others to Dallas last season, marks the first time the Lakers have lost three straight games to the Mavericks since the 1986-87 season.

“Oh really?” Kobe Bryant said afterward, slightly surprised by the statistic. “Thank you.”

Bryant had 32 points on 12-of-30 shooting, and the Lakers lost for the 14th time in 30 games, more than a bit off the pace of last season, when they went 39 games before losing their 14th.

In the same way they weren’t burned by Tim Duncan and Tony Parker in San Antonio, the Lakers weren’t buried by Dallas do-it-all center Dirk Nowitzki, who didn’t register much of a presence until the fourth quarter, with the Mavericks’ lead already in double-figure territory.

But the Lakers couldn’t stifle Maverick point guard Jason Terry, who had 28 points, 19 in the first half after making all four of his three-point attempts.

“We didn’t expect Jason Terry to do that,” Tomjanovich said.

Nowitzki finished with 25 points and warmed up for a 15-point outburst in the fourth quarter by picking the ball from Bryant’s grasp, moving down court and drawing a foul from Bryant on the way to a dunk.

Bryant tumbled into the crowd and whacked the back of his head on a courtside camera. Nowitzki made the free throw and gave the Mavericks a 100-83 lead with 9:38 left in the fourth quarter.

“Sometimes it takes a couple kicks to the butt to move forward,” said Bryant, ruefully rubbing the bump on his head afterward. “Hopefully we can learn from this.”

The Lakers stalled from the start, Bryant failing to log a point or assist in the first quarter on the way to a 30-17 deficit.

Bryant answered with 16 points in the second quarter, making seven of 13 shots and keeping the Lakers in it at halftime, 63-51. They never got closer than a 10-point deficit the rest of the way.

“They just killed us offensively,” Tomjanovich said. “We’ve got to put a tourniquet on it, and we’ve got to get back in here and win some games.”

Lamar Odom had 14 points and fouled out with 4:02 left, his frustration more than obvious as Bryant directed him away from referee Bennie Adams on the way to the Laker bench.

“That referee was taking it personally,” said Odom, who fouled out for the first time this season. “I said something to him earlier in the game. That’s a bad decision on my part to do that.”

The Lakers spoke of the potential for maturation before they started their abbreviated trip through two-thirds of the Texas Triangle. But after losing twice in succession, there were many questions, few answers.

“Is this who we are?” Tomjanovich asked. “I don’t believe it. I think we can compete better than this.”