Nowitzki makes history as Mavericks top Lakers

Although they would have preferred one, piecing together a masterpiece wasn’t high on the Dallas Mavericks’ wish list Friday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.

They wanted to stop the bleeding and get a win.

Dirk Nowitzki climbed another notch up the history ladder, and Rajon Rondo settled into his new home as the Mavs upended the Lakers 102-98 before a sellout crowd of 20,424 at American Airlines Center.

As they snapped a two-game losing streak, the Mavs improved to 21-10 going into Sunday’s home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Both Monta Ellis and Nowitzki missed Friday morning’s shootaround with an illness, but both answered the starting whistle.

Nowitzki needed just six points to pass Elvin Hayes for eighth place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, but didn’t get it until he hit one of his patented 20-footers 17 seconds into the second half off a feed from Ellis.

“I’ve been fortunate to play, even this season, fortunate to have great teammates put me in position to keep scoring even as I’m older,” Nowitzki said. “It’s been fun.”

Friday also was fun for Rondo, who scored a season-high 21 points, grabbed eight rebounds and distributed seven assists in his fourth game since joing the Mavs in a Dec. 18 trade with Boston.

Rondo made 10 of 17 shots and was attacking the basket.

“I was able to get into the paint,” Rondo said. “Coach has been talking all week as far as me getting into the paint and being aggressive and taking my shots and then making the right passes, so I did a little bit of both tonight.”

Less than three minutes into the game, Rondo had already fired a couple of nifty alley-oop passes that Tyson Chandler turned into rim-rattling dunks. Then, with 4:53 remaining in the game Rondo lobbed a pass to Chandler, who caught it in midair, leaned back and calmly kissed it off the glass for a 90-79 lead for the Mavs.

“He’s doing better every game,” Carlisle said of Rondo. “He’s getting used to the guys, the guys are getting used to him, and we’re making adjustments we need to make, so he’s doing well.

“I liked his aggression a lot tonight and I think it’s important that he’s a threat to score, because that’s going to open up more things, and he did a great job of that tonight.”

Utilizing a 15-4 run, the Mavs built a 95-79 lead against the Lakers, who played without Kobe Bryant, who rested his Achilles tendon for a third straight game. But the Lakers battled all the way within 101-98 with 4.4 seconds left after a dunk by Jordan Hill.

Ellis, who wound up with 15 points and seven assists, split a pair of free throws with 3.8 seconds left to close the scoring.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my teammates who kept finding me for the open shots,” said Villanueva, who was 5-of-9 from the field. “I have spent a lot of hours in the gym with practice and repetition getting my game sharp and working on my craft.”

Dallas opened the game with a 10-0 run and still led 26-19 after the first period. The Lakers, who got 18 points from Carlos Boozer, narrowed the gap to 48-42 at the half.

Nowitzki, though, stole the show with his history-making performance.

“It’s hard to describe what we’re seeing in real time,” Carlisle said. “He’s making it look sort of easy. The amount of work that’s gone into him getting to this point in his career is something that none of us will ever really be able to fathom.”　

This story was originally published December 26, 2014 at 11:40 PM with the headline "Nowitzki makes history as Mavericks top Lakers."