Mavs Open Season Against Lakers Tonight
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The Dallas Mavericks open the NBA season in Los Angeles against the Lakers. The Mavericks have a tough road ahead in the matchup as 11-time All-Star Dirk Nowitzki will be out of the game while he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery. The Mavericks are 24-21 (.533) all-time in regular-season games without Nowitzki in the lineup compared to 691-364 (.655) all-time in regular-season games when he plays.
The Lakers have won six straight and 14 of the last 17 regular-season meetings with the Mavericks. The Lakers swept the 2011-12 season series, 4-0. The Mavericks are 18-14 (.563) all-time in season-opening games.
Lakers point guard Steve Nash played for the Mavericks from 1998-2004 and was an All-Star in Dallas in 2002 and 2003…Lakers forward Antawn Jamison played for the Mavericks during the 2003-04 season and averaged 14.8 ppg and 6.3 rpg in 82 games (2 starts) en route to winning the Sixth Man of the Year award.
The Mavericks are 0-3 all-time in season-opening games against the L.A. Lakers. The last time the Mavericks opened the season against the Lakers was in 2003-04 (10/28/03) and Dallas fell 109-93 at the STAPLES Center. The
Mavericks also opened the 1988-89 and 1989- 90 seasons against the Lakers (both at home). The Lakers recorded a 116-113 win at Dallas on 11/4/88 and then defeated the Mavericks 102-94 at Dallas again the following year on 11/3/89.
The Mavericks enter the 2012-13 season with an all-time record of 1,300-1,276 (.505) in the regular season. Dallas is 772-516 (.599) all- time in regular-season games at home and 528-760 (.410) all-time in regular-season games on the road.
After the conclusion of the 2011-12 season, Dallas began its busy offseason by signing head coach Rick Carlisle to a contract extension on 5/15/12. The Mavericks then turned their attention to the draft for an opportunity to get younger. On the night of the draft (6/28/12), the Mavericks acquired the draft rights to the 24th overall pick Jared Cunningham, the 33rd overall pick Bernard James and the 34th overall selection Jae Crowder from Cleveland in exchange for guard Kelenna Azubuike and the draft rights to the 17th overall pick Tyler Zeller. On 7/12/12, Dallas acquired point guard Darren Collison and guard/forward Dahntay Jones from Indiana in exchange for center Ian Mahinmi. The following day (7/13/12), the Mavericks signed center Chris Kaman and were awarded forward Elton Brand via the amnesty waiver claim. Dallas signed free agent guard O.J. Mayo on 7/19/12. By 7/25/12, Dallas had signed all three of its draft picks (Cunningham, James and Crowder). Center Eddy Curry was awarded to Dallas on a waiver claim on 10/25/12 and the roster now stands at 15 players. Of those 15 players, six will be returning to the Mavericks from last season (Rodrigue Beaubois, Vince Carter, Dominique Jones, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Brandan Wright) and four remain from the Mavericks’ 2011 title team (Beaubois, Dominique Jones, Marion and Nowitzki).
