Los Angeles Lakers-Dallas Mavericks: Overtime, Free Throws, and Lay-Ups—Oh My!

In this Western Conference where every win is magnified and every loss can knock you out of the playoff picture, it was vital that the Los Angeles Lakers come back home after the loss in Portland by getting back on track in their minds. Unfortunately they had to get themselves back into the winning groove against one of the top-flight teams in the West—the Dallas Mavericks. But fortunately, the Lakers brought an "interesting" performance to battle the Mavericks. It wasn’t a great shooting night for either team, as both teams tanked a lot of easy jumpers. The Lakers main bane of existence was at the free throw line where a normally infallible Kobe came up shy a total of seven times. Then there was Lamar Odom with his late game misses. Every miss can kill you, but when they came in bunches like they did against the Mavs today, it looked like it might be the inevitable thing that "comes back to bite you in the butt.” Thankfully Kobe straightened his stuff out on the ... (link)