Turiaf started out a lion on defense, stepping up as backup center for injured Casol, even as he did for Bynum before that.
Lakers clickin' on all 8-cylinders, from the start. Odom, Turiaf, Radmanovitch, Kobe, Fish. Mavs chipped away at 20+ Lakers lead, pulling to within 16 with a min. and change left in 3rd.
Oops, Terry's 3 for the Mavs at the buzzer pulls 'em within 12, 77-65, goin' into 4th.
Well Kobe better come back in and the Lakers better regroup.
15-1 Mavs run. Then Kobe scores, back up by 12.
So it's basically tit-for-tat now hangin' around 10 instead of 20 pt. margin.
79-72 Lakers, jeez. Then to 5, then a Rad 3, back to 8.
84-76 Lakers after Odom cleanup. Rad bangs another 3 after Mavs close to 6; 87-78 Lakers.
Damn, late in the 4th back-to-back Nowitski 3s makes it a mere 98-97 Lakers lead with 51 seconds left.
Clutch Odom free-throws for a 100-97 Lakers lead with 29 sec. left.
Sascha makes 1 of 2 FTs; 101-97 with 13.3 left.
Another 3 pt. dagger from the Mavs, and it's 101-100.
D-Fish makes 1 of 2 FTs to keep the Lakers lead at 102-100, with 4 secs. left. Lakers D harasses Nowitski's attempted 3 enuf and he misses.
Whew! Lakers get outta Dallas alive 102-100.
A good character builder win for the team. They'll be all the better when Pau, and then Bynum return. Ariza too.
Next up: Utah. Continue to play tough and smart, guys. This is the relentless Western Conference, all 8 seeds breathin' down each other's necks.
Keywords: grit, Kobe, Mavs, Odom, Radmanovitch, smarts, Turiaf, Western Conference
