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He says his Los Angeles Lakers will rally from a 3-0 deficit against the Dallas Mavericks. It’s a rare comeback in North American sports, most notably accomplished by the 2004 Boston Red Sox against their rival New York Yankees and last season in the NHL, when the Philadelphia Flyers rallied to stun the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference semifinals. As for the NBA, it’s never been done in 65 years of the league’s existence.
“I might be sick in the head or crazy or thrown off or something like that, but I still think we are going to win this series,” Bryant said. “I might be nuts. Win on Sunday. Go back home and see if they can win in L.A.”
When asked where that confidence comes from, the five-time NBA champion said: “I don’t know. I’m just nuts.”
Considering how the Lakers have played so far against the Mavericks, there are lots of reasons to call Bryant nuts and little reason for faith.The Lakers blew a 16-point second-half lead in Game 1 and were routed in Game 2. Their latest setback: The Lakers squandered an 85-78 lead with 5:08 remaining Friday and were outscored 32-20 in the fourth quarter.
Closing games has been a big problem for the Lakers in this series. In three contests, the Mavericks have outscored them 82-55 in the fourth quarter. Lakers center Andrew Bynum(notes) said it’s been a concern all season. Bryant had a harsher assessment of Friday’s meltdown.
“We [expletive] up,” Bryant said. “Stuff we went over [Friday] morning in the fourth quarter, [expletives] just didn’t do it. They didn’t make the [defensive] rotations they were supposed to. It’s as simple as that.”
Bynum, who had team-highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds, said: “We’re beating ourselves. … I don’t think it was their defense. It was more just us thinking for some reason we had to mismatch and that was the extent of the offense. …
“I’m not very stunned. I really thought we’d win tonight, at least.”
Lakers power forward Pau Gasol(notes) is a shadow of his All-Star self this postseason and talk of being soft has resurfaced. He’s “out of it” mentally and hasn’t been able to be “effective or comfortable out there,” but couldn’t explain why and says he needs to “snap out of it.” Time is running out.
He entered Game 3 averaged a disappointing 13.6 points and 7.8 rebounds in the postseason, which is 5.2 points and 2.4 rebounds below his regular-season averages. Gasol was poor again Friday, scoring 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting with eight rebounds in 40 minutes, including just three points in the fourth quarter. He also primarily guarded Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki(notes), who had 32 points and nine rebounds Friday.

 After 10 losses in as many road games against the Lakers all-time in the playoffs, the Dallas Mavericks took care of business Monday winning Game One of the Western Conference Semifinals at Staples Center 96-94.

The Lakers had a chance to pick their match-up against Dirk Nowitzki nursing a one-point lead with 20 seconds remaining, and elected to go with Pau Gasol. Prior to the play, Nowitzki was 5-for-5 against Gasol, 5-for-11 against Lamar Odom and 1-for-6 against all other Lakers. Gasol fouled Nowitzki on the inbounds, sending him to the line and giving the Mavs a lead they would not relinquish.

Nowitzki finished with a team-high 28 points and 14 rebounds. It was his eighth straight playoff game with 20+ points and the seventh time in his last eight games with 25+ points.

Kobe Bryant scored 36 points in the loss meaning he now has at least 30 points in Game One of five consecutive playoff series. That’s the longest such streak in franchise history. George Mikan (1949-1950), Elgin Baylor (1961-1962) and Shaquille O’Neal (2000) scored 30 or more points in Game One in each of four consecutive playoff series for the Lakers.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Bryant is the first player to score at least 30 points in five consecutive Game Ones since Michael Jordan did that in seven straight playoff series, spanning 1997 to 1998.

The Lakers are 0-2 in Game Ones this postseason having lost to the Hornets in the previous series. The Elias Sports Bureau also tells us it's the first time the Lakers have lost Game One in back-to-back series of the same postseason since May 1998 and the first time since 1972 that they have lost Game One of consecutive playoff series in the same postseason at home.

Chris Paul would apparently hit anyone if he's playing against them in basketball, even his mother.
The Hornets star had an awesome performance in Game 4 against the Lakers, recording a triple-double and scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter. The all-star guard battled Kobe throughout the entire game and after it was all over, TNT's Cheryl Miller asked Paul what it was like to get physical with the five-time champion.
"He would do me the same way. It's all in fun, but it's our livelihood," he said. "I don't care if my mother was on the court. I'd hit her, too."
Paul scored scored 27 points and as Avinash Kunnath of SB Nation pointed out, he had just as many rebounds as Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol combined.