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 The Lakers led by 25 points midway through the third quarter, but were up only 101-100 with 4.8 seconds left. Derek Fisher made one of two foul shots after that, then Dirk Nowitzki had a chance to win it for Dallas but missed a 3-pointer as time expired.
Nowitzki had 35 points, 11 rebounds and a season-high five blocks, but the Mavericks' five-game winning streak was snapped. Dallas fell to 0-6 against teams with winning records since adding Jason Kidd.
The win moved Los Angeles a half-game behind Houston for the top spot in the Western Conference, pending the Rockets' game against the Celtics. The Lakers were guaranteed of at least being a half-game ahead of idle New Orleans.
Playing their second straight game without injured Pau Gasol, the Lakers went up 76-51 with 5:44 left in the third on an acrobatic bank shot by Bryant. Dallas called a quick timeout, then failed to get off a shot before the buzzer. Disgruntled fans already had been booing and there were even some MVP chants for Bryant.
But the Mavericks snapped out of it, closing the quarter on a 14-1 run. A 9-2 spurt to open the fourth quarter got them within five. With 41 seconds left, Nowitzki hit a second straight 3-pointer to get Dallas within 98-97.
Jason Terry, who scored 19 points, threw in a long 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left to trim Los Angeles' lead to 101-100. Fisher was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass, then the Mavericks called time to set up their final play after he made his second foul shot.
Josh Howard threw a low pass that Nowitzki fumbled. Once he regained control, he faked out two defenders for a good look but the shot was well wide to the right. He walked away slowly, looking down, while Terry dropped to the floor.
Dallas slipped to seventh in the West. With 24 losses, the Mavericks have the same amount as eighth-seeded Golden State, but led the Warriors by three games in the win column.
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Lamar Odom scored 17 points for Los Angeles and Ronny Turiaf had 17 points, 17 rebounds and lots of tenacious play. Radmanovic's big final period included three 3-pointers.
Bryant, who scored 52 points in an overtime victory over Dallas in Los Angeles two weeks ago, had 20 points by halftime but only nine the rest of the way.
Howard scored 19 points for Dallas. Jason Kidd had his worst game since arriving from New Jersey, with one point (0-for-3 shooting, including a missed 3-pointer in the final half-minute), seven assists and three rebounds in only 28 minutes. He was benched from 6:27 of the third to 5:51 of the fourth, missing nearly all of the 23-3 run that got the Mavericks back into the game.
Notes: Mavs security kept two more bloggers out of the locker room, as per team owner Mark Cuban's policy. ... Bryant shot 27 free throws last time the teams met. He had only six this time
-- and made only three. ... Dallas' game against the Clippers next Tuesday will be shown live in 3D high definition to an invitation-only audience of 100 fans picked from the team's Web site. The 2007 All-Star game and Game 2 of last year's NBA finals are the only previous live sporting events shown in 3D HD.
[Associated Press; By JAIME ARON]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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