Lakers rout Mavs for first road win of season
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) passes the ball behind his back as Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Dominique Jones (20) defends in the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012, in Dallas. The Lakers won 115-89. (AP Photo/ Michael Mulvey)
DALLAS, Texas – The Los Angeles Lakers earned their first road victory of the NBA season in emphatic style Saturday, routing the Dallas Mavricks 115-89.
Antawn Jamison was among six Lakers players scoring in double figures and also grabbed 15 rebounds as Los Angeles delivered their best performance since the arrival of new head coach Mike D’Antoni.
Kobe Bryant and Metta World Peace contributed 19 points apiece and Dwight Howard added 15 points with five steals.
The Lakers, 0-4 on the road coming into the contest, out-rebounded the Mavericks 61-39. They held the Mavs — one of the highest scoring teams in the league with an average of 101.8 points per game coming in — to 37 percent shooting and led by as many as 37 points.
“It started on the defensive end,” said Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle. “They had a lot of blow-by’s at the beginning of the game. They played a great game and we were really poor. I credit them, we all own this one…they are physically stronger than us.”
Vince Carter scored 16 points and Jae Crowder posted a career-high 15 in the defeat, which was the Mavericks’ sixth in nine games after their 4-1 start to the season.
The Lakers took charge early, using an 11-2 run to take an 18-8 lead midway through the first quarter.
“We came out with a lot of energy tonight on both ends,” said Howard. “Everybody was active and we really ran the floor well tonight. We played great defense and were able to score.”
Dallas put together an 8-2 scoring run — capped by a dunk from Dominique Jones — to trim the margin to 10 in the final minute of the first, but they would get no closer the rest of the night.
Bryant made a three-pointer with just over a second left in the first half and the Lakers took a 65-38 lead into halftime.
The third quarter brought more of the same, with reserve guard Chris Duhon’s three-pointer giving the Lakers an 85-48 lead.
From there the Mavericks didn’t get closer than 22 points.
