LAKERS NOT ON BOARD IN DEFEAT REBOUNDING WOES EXPOSED VS. DALLAS DALLAS 114, LAKERS 95.

Byline: ROSS SILER Staff Writer

DALLAS -- For all the ways to size up a box score, all Lakers coach Phil Jackson had to do Thursday night was look at the rebounding totals to see just how badly his team missed injured starters Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown.

The Lakers were outrebounded 53-28 by the Dallas Mavericks, putting up little resistance in losing 114-95 to the NBA's best team and failing to build off Wednesday's victory at San Antonio.

Even if Odom and Brown might not have made a difference against a Mavericks team that has lost one game in the past 38 days, the Lakers wouldn't have minded adding to the equation the 15.3rebounds the two were averaging before they were hurt.

``Any time you get beat up that bad on the inside like we did tonight,'' Jackson said, ``you're not going to have much of a chance of performing in the ballgame.''

At halftime, Jackson was handed a stat sheet showing that the Mavericks had more offensive rebounds (14) than the Lakers had total rebounds (13). Andrew Bynum and Smush Parker were the Lakers' leading rebounders for the game with five each.

``A lot of rebounding has to do with just effort,'' forward Luke Walton said. ``That shows they wanted it more than us tonight, I guess.''

The Mavericks won their sixth game in a row and avenged the Jan. 7 loss to the Lakers at Staples Center that ended their 13-game winning streak. The Lakers had no answer for either Josh Howard (29 points, 11 rebounds) or Dirk Nowitzki (27 points, 10 rebounds).

``We didn't have much of a presence out there tonight,'' Jackson said.

Dallas (33-8) shot 54.5 percent and blew away the Lakers in the middle two quarters, winning the second quarter 34-20 and the third quarter 35-24. The Lakers trailed by as many as 28 points in the third quarter, their biggest deficit of the season.

``We know they're a great team, we give them the credit,'' Walton said, ``but we feel like we're a better team than we were tonight.''

Nobody enjoyed it more than Dallas owner Mark Cuban, who sat in his courtside seat wearing a ``Talk nerdy to me'' T-shirt, and raised his fist in celebration as the Mavericks took control .

The Lakers led 28-26 at the end of the first quarter, with Kobe Bryant having scored two points and getting everyone involved with four assists. They went cold in the second quarter, however, and the Mavericks surged just before halftime.

Backup guard Anthony Johnson hit two tough shots with the 24-second clock expiring in the last minute of the half. Dallas went into halftime with a 60-48 lead and Jackson had a message for his players at halftime.

``I told the starters they didn't have much wiggle room out there,'' Jackson said, ``or else they were going to get in jeopardy, and (the words) were right on.''

After starting in place of Devin Harris, who was out with the flu, former Laker Devean George victimized his old team. George matched up against Bryant and knocked down two jumpers out of halftime as Dallas went ahead by 16 points.

Jackson also lamented the Lakers' carelessness with the ball. Jason Terry stole a Walton pass and the Mavericks ran out for a Howard reverse layup. Vladimir Radmanovic was stripped on a drive and Nowitzki dunked off a fastbreak.

``There are certain moments in a ballgame where you have to really make shots and take care of the basketball,'' Bryant said. ``If we can identify those, we'll be much more competitive in those situations.''

Bryant finished with 26 points on 8-of-18 shooting and came back for the last 5:45 with the Lakers down 17. Rookie guard Jordan Farmar had a career-high 17 points in 26 minutes. The Lakers made just 5 of 19 3-pointers and committed 16 turnovers.

Jackson, however, kept coming back to the rebounding totals.

The Mavericks had 19 offensive rebounds, leading to what Jackson calls ``90 percent shots'' around the basket. Forwards Brian Cook and Radmanovic combined for three rebounds in 42 minutes.

``It says something about our anticipation,'' Jackson said, ``our defensive responsibilities, and just the fact that we were missing some characters that really help us rebound the ball.''

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Photo:

(1 -- color) Lakers center Andrew Bynum, center, grabs a rebound in front of Dallas' Erick Dampier, left, and Devean George in Thursday's game.

(2) Dallas guard Josh Howard drives past the Lakers' Luke Walton for a second-half basket Thursday.

Donna McWilliam/Associated Press