Matinee Amnesty Hypothetical!

On a day when the Oscars will get a huge viewership later this day. On a day the Mavericks enjoy a visit from Showtime  for a noon time tip-off on national TV.

This of course will go head to head with the NASCAR Grand Daddy of them all, The Daytona. Need we even mention the Combine or Deion Sanders?

That's enough Prime Time for one Sunday afternoon in February.

To those who chose to make the trek to downtown Dallas for a noon tip-off (that's ten AM for the West Coast) you certainly got your money's worth. 

Two teams not exactly in their prime fighting for the #9 spot in the Western Conference with about 28 games left on the docket.

Two stars aged 34 in a battle that at times resembled more of a welterweight fight. The visiting team less than a week removed from losing their owner and wearing the JB initials over the right breast.

Playoff feel in the stands and on the court...to the tune of 10 ties and 20 lead changes. In the end Kobe Bryant would have a 38 point afternoon-14 in the last period 8 in the final three minutes-ably assisted by Steve Nash with a season high 20. Not to be outdone Dirk Nowitzki put up a 30 spot for himself. His highest output in a game this season.

The lead never got higher than 6 either way. Metta World Peace was shut out until the 47th minute at the free throw line. Guarding Kobe was a challenge for numerous Mavericks and the beards shall remain a little longer as Los Angeles won a thriller of a game 103-99.

Kobe, do you ever tire of these battles where you have to carry the load?

'It’s just what I’m supposed to do. It’s about that time, I’m kind of going through a process of facilitating and things like that but now it’s time to put the whole thing together.”

Coach Mike D Antoni essentially summed up the hypothetical on what makes Kobe so special.

“I thought we put ourselves in trouble a little bit because of not getting back on defense, and rebounds. Then we had to make some big plays. Kobe made some unbelievable big plays coming down the stretch. Just different big plays we hit. They kind of responded play to play, but at the end we made more. They played well and I thought it was a great game.”

With the win the Lakers now improve to 28-29 while Dallas fell to 25-30. A bitter pill to swallow on the heels of a Rockets loss in Washington and another close game lost late.

Rick Carlisle talked about the challenge of playing your game with Kobe Bryant as the opponent.

“It’s difficult, it’s obviously difficult. He hit some very difficult shots. We ran at him a few times… one time we ran at him and (Steve) Nash hit a three. It’s tough when he has it going like that, but I think when we look at it on film, we had a lot of missed opportunities offensively.”

Dwight Howard started off slowly before winding up with nine points and 13 boards. Chris Kaman made a return to the floor since suffering a concussion over ten games ago. The last period belonged to Kobe Bryant and there even chants of 'MVP! MVP!' inside the American Airlines Center by the many Laker fans in attendance.

You can forget all the talk about Dirk or Kobe getting amnestied out of their prospective teams. It's not going to happen. Why should it? When these two teams meet it tends to get entertaining. One more meeting will occur at the Staples Center on April 2nd.

Los Angeles has been playing well of late having won 11 of 15. For Dallas their record in the last month in games where they lose by six point or less is 1-9. To say nothing about overtime troubles. Finishing out games remains a bugaboo. On the brighter side for the 5th game in a row the Mavericks were able to make 30 points or better in the opening period.

Lakers now off the Denver while Dallas rewelcomes JJ Redick and his new team the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night.

Shawn Marion with a friendly reminder what you do if you're dealing with a red-hot Kobe:

“There’s a few things you can do, a couple things you can do, you can double or you can just send him to another defender on your team just to make it easier or vice versa. He hit some tough shots and that’s what it boils down to. And don’t have anything else to say. It was a close game, we were right there and a couple calls here or there, a couple baskets here or miss there and we would have won the game. They (Lakers) came up with some big stops in the end when they needed them and hit some big shots.”

Easier said than done. Jimmie Johnson wins at Daytona. Los Angeles grabs a tighter hold of the #9 seed at the expense of the Dallas Mavericks.

Over and out in Big D.

Mr. Will