DALLAS -- This isn't Magic Johnson's Showtime Los Angeles Lakers that anyone dared running with.
And since the Lakers will be playing their fourth game in five nights when they square off against the Dallas Mavericks at 7:30 tonight at American Airlines Center, the Mavs don't mind at all pushing the ball up the floor at a racehorse pace.
"We know this is their fourth game in five nights, so we’ll try to come out and get them early,'' rookie forward Jae Crowder said. "I feel like that’s what we did in the first game of the
season in LA.
"We just played a little faster, got a lot of fast break points.''
The Mavs opened the season with a surprising 99-91 win over the Lakers in LA. Since then, the Lakers fired coach Mike Brown and replaced him with Mike D'Antoni, and have lost all four of their road games.
"They’re hungry for a win, especially a road win,'' Crowder said. "They haven’t got one yet this year, so I'm sure we’ll get their best punch tonight.''
Best punch or not, Crowder believes if the Mavs just stay the course they'll be able to defeat the Lakers before they embark on a two-game road trip which starts Tuesday in Philadelphia.
"We had a great game plan going into that game (against the Lakers on Oct. 30) and I feel
like it’s the same game plan right now,'' Crowder said. "If we stick to it -- because they’re going to
make runs -- if we stick to it while they’re making runs, we’ll be fine.''
-- Dwain Price
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@dwainprice
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