The Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks open their second round NBA playoff series Monday night at Staples Center. Amazingly, Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki have never faced one another in the playoffs, and in fact the Lakers and Mavericks haven't played in the postseason since the 1988 Western Conference Finals. They did face off three times this season, however, and here is a look back to those contests:
January 19 (at Dallas) - Mavericks 109, Lakers 100: Jason Kidd scored 13 points in a third quarter run for Dallas, and the Mavericks got 22 points apiece off the bench from Jason Terry and Shawn Marion
March 12 (at Dallas) - Lakers 96, Mavericks 91: Andrew Bynum dominated, with 22 points and 15 rebounds, propelling the Lakers to a road win. Kobe Bryant badly turned his left ankle in this game, an injury Bryant himself feared might end his season. That didn't happen, of course, and here we are today.
March 31 (at Los Angeles) - Lakers 110, Mavericks 82: The Lakers blew the Mavericks out of Staples Center, but things got testy in the fourth quarter. Terry shoved Steve Blake to the ground, Matt Barnes intervened, and all three were ejected in the fracas.
Both teams finished 57-25 on the season, but the Lakers captured the higher seed by virtue of winning their division, while Dallas finished behind San Antonio in the Southwest Division. Game 1 is 7:30 p.m. PDT Monday night at Staples Center, and will be televised by TNT.
For more news on this second-round matchup, be sure to stay tuned to this story stream at SB Nation Los Angeles. For more NBA playoff coverage, check out SB Nation's playoff bracket and schedule. For more news and information on the Lakers, be sure to read the SB Nation blog Silver Screen and Roll.