LA Lakers @ Dallas Mavericks NBA Playoff Game 3 Pick

LA Lakers @ Dallas Mavericks NBA Playoff Game 3 Pick: Little has been said of the Lakers’ struggles down the stretch, but it was there to see if you looked. Their two losses to a New Orleans team that had no business beating anybody in the Western Conference playoffs was less of a fluke and more of an alarm clock going off to Laker fans everywhere. At least it should have been.

On the other hand, it’s very tough for me to go all out backing the Mavericks and bust the Lakers because Dallas stunk it up big time down the stretch as well. In fact, if any top seed looked like a possible 1st round upset in the making, it was the Mavs.

But one of these two teams has really turned it around. Dirk is playing out of his mind, hitting shots that would be tough in a game of HORSE, and he’s being guarded (kind of). I felt pretty good about this series coming in, meaning I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the match-ups and how the Lakers shouldn’t be as heavily favored as they were.

I like how the Mavs can match up on the defensive end with the Lakers’ bigs – at least as well as any other team in the league. Chandler is a solid defender with great length, and Haywood can come in and make it tough on either Bynum or Gasol. Then you have Dirk, and one of those two Lakers, or Lamar Odom, has to guard him – which pulls them away from the hoop and opens up stuff for the Mavs to drive, and then kick it out when the Lakers try to recover.

The Mavs have the length, and the Lakers are looking old. I don’t think games 1 and 2 were flukes, and I think the Mavs will come out ready and roaring at home in Game 3. I like them to go up 3-0.