• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Terry, Mavs shoot lights out to sweep Lakers

May 9, 2011 - 1:25 AM Dallas, TX (Sports Network) - Jason Terry and the Dallas Mavericks found an effective way to turn out the lights on the Lakers' season -- and, possibly, Phil Jackson's career.

They shot 'em out.

Terry and the Mavericks both tied NBA postseason records for three-pointers, and the Mavericks kept their foot on the pedal for the final 2 1/2 quarters in a 122-86 rout that swept the Lakers out of the playoffs.

Despite playing just 25 minutes off the bench, Terry made nine three-pointers to tie an individual postseason record and scored 32 for the third-seeded Mavs, who moved on to face either Memphis or Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals.

"We're halfway to where we want to be," said Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle, whose team went 20-for-32 from beyond the arc to tie the team record for three-pointers made in a playoff game.

Peja Stojakovic went 6-for-6 on three-pointers for 21 points and J.J. Barea scored 22 for Dallas. Dirk Nowitzki had just 17 points in the Game 4 clincher, but the Mavs hardly needed more from him.

Holding Kobe Bryant to 17 points on 7-of-18 shooting and scoring seemingly at will, Dallas shot better than 60 percent and took a big lead in the first half it never gave up.

Lopsided and anti-climactic, the game turned ugly, too, when two flagrant fouls on the Lakers added sportsmanship to the list of things they did poorly on Sunday.

Indeed, Lakers fans who are familiar with the "Memorial Day Massacre" -- the 148-114 loss to Boston in Game 1 of the 1985 NBA Finals -- might call this one the "Mother's Day Massacre."

If it ends up being the last NBA game Jackson spends on the sidelines -- "My hopes and aspirations are this is the final game I will coach," he said afterward -- it was no way for a team to send off its Hall of Fame head coach.

Unable to defend the perimeter, and showing little fight in an elimination game, the two-time defending champions trailed by double digits for the final 32:21 of the game.

"We ran into a buzz saw," Jackson said.

His team's frustration materialized in the form of two ugly incidents in the fourth, when Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum were both ejected from the game for separate flagrant type 2 fouls.

Odom threw a shoulder into Nowitzki as the Mavs forward was running near the three-point line, knocking him to the ground. But it was nothing compared to the elbow Bynum hit the 6-foot Barea with moments later.

As Barea drove the lane and jumped for an easy layup, Bynum elbowed him in the ribs beneath the right arm pit, sending him to the court in a heap, where he laid for several minutes.

Bynum removed his jersey as he walked off the court -- strutting past the Dallas bench, where players were being held back.

"To make the game ugly like that, it's not something you want to see in the game of basketball, ever," said Bryant.

Carlisle refused to comment on the fouls, saying: "Their actions are their actions. People can judge them on that."

The Mavs, of course, will be judged by an all-time performance on the court.

Holding a 27-23 lead after the first quarter, they put the game away with a 36-16 score in the second. The big run was a 13-2 burst, capped by matching corner three-pointers from Terry and Stojakovic to give the Mavericks a 50-32 lead.

They pushed it as high as 25 points when Terry, on a kickout pass from Nowitzki in the lane, made his sixth three-pointer of the first half to give them a 63-38 lead.

About the only thing that went LA's way in the quarter came on an unlikely play: Derek Fisher, the only man back on a 4-on-1 Dallas break, stole a pass in the lane to end it.

"We just talked about not ever letting up," said Nowitzki. "Because you see a lot of things go down in this league, and they still have Kobe."

LA cut its deficit to 63-39 entering the locker room, but was never closer than 19 the rest of the way, shooting under 38 percent for the game. Shannon Brown added 15 points and Ron Artest scored 11.

"That second quarter, it was like the roof fell in on us," said Jackson.

"They played lights-out," said Bryant.

Both men were dismayed by Odom and Bynum's flagrant fouls, with Jackson saying he "wasn't happy with the way our players exited the game."

Jackson has a record 11 NBA Championship rings -- six with the Bulls, five with the Lakers -- and was trying to lead a team to a three-peat for the third time.

He had never been down 0-3 in the postseason before, and no team in NBA history had ever rallied from that deficit to win a series.

"The thrill of trying to chase a three-peat is always an exciting thing," said Jackson, "but I knew it was a big challenge for this team. It puts a lot of strain on a basketball team."

Said Jackson: "It feels really good to be ending the season."

Game Notes

Jackson was fined $35,000 by the NBA for comments he made before practice Saturday that were critical of officials, particularly about how the Mavericks were defending forward Pau Gasol. "I go out with a sour note, so that's not fun, feeling like I've been chased down the freeway by them," Jackson said of the NBA, drawing laughs in the interview room. Jackson, who dates Jeanie Buss, the daughter of team owner Jerry Buss, said he will still be involved with the Lakers on the business end...Said Bryant of the man who has been his head coach (with one brief break) since 1999: "It's a little weird for me to think about what next year is going to look like"...Dallas and LA finished with identical 57-25 records during the regular season, but the Lakers won the season series, 2-1, for the West's No. 2 seed. "If you're going to beat LA, the second round is the time to do it because they get better and better," said Carlisle.