Lakers Vaporize Mavs, Pau Hurt

Tonight was about the kicking of ass. The Dallas Mavericks' hindquarters were booted early, often and by suspects both usual and unusual. Against a top defensive team that has allowed less than a point per possession over their last five games, the Los Angeles Lakers put on an insane shooting display that blew Dallas apart early. The final score was 131 to 96 and no, the game wasn't any closer than it looked.

As the cliché goes, this counts for only one win, but still: what a win. The offense was far and away better than it's been at any time this season. The Mavs were playing out the string on an eight-day road trip and were missing defensive stalwart Erick Dampier, but all the mitigating factors you can think of can't diminish tonight's tour de force. The Lakers made 66% of their two-point attempts, 58% of their threes and 81% of their free throws. With everyone locked in - each Laker who played shot at least 50% from the field - the Dallas defense never had a prayer.

What transformed this game from "comfortable win" to "economy-sized massacre" was the play of the Laker bench. Jordan Farmar took a flamethrower to the Mavs, scoring 24 points on 81% True Shooting. Shannon Brown threw in 11 points to go along with five assists. And Sasha Vujacic had a fantastic all-around game: 11 points, two assists, five rebounds, two steals and zero turnovers. Only 32 minutes of play tonight for the Kobester, who looked happy to be in kick-back mode throughout the fourth quarter.

The lone chunk of bad news concerns Pau Gasol, who left the game in the first with the dreaded strained hamstring. It's not the same hammy that kept him out of action in October and November, but right now we don't know how serious the injury is. Mike Bresnahan of the Times Tweeted during the game that Pau will undergo an ultrasound tomorrow. Ron Artest is likely to miss at least one more game, so the roster will be stretched thin against Houston on Tuesday.

We'll worry about that tomorrow. Tonight, we bathe in the blood of our enemies! Please allow Shannon to dunk!