Damn, that felt good.  That was a really annoying monkey, and its nice to have gotten it off our backs. (for now)  Dirk came out last game, and did work.  

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Now comes the next "must win".  We are off to see those pesky Lakers, who in the past meetings against them have given us hope of winning, then have quickly put us back in our places.  Last game we overcame a 25 point deficit in the second half to lose by two.  Even before that heartbreaker, on March 2nd we lost in OT, because once again we were unable to contain Kobe as he went off for his usual 52 points against us.  Is it just me or does it seem like he ALWAYS goes off for 50+ points against us?  Is it because he is secretly trying to impress Cubes just in case things "still" don't work out for him in L.A.?  Seems like it.

Dallas is obviously coming off of their biggest win of the year.  This game was huge, and everyone showed up.  But the question remains, is this start of something that is going to carry and propel us through the playoffs?  Time will tell, but I think based upon what DirkDiggler posted here about Hollinger's article, we have reason to believe that that 0-10 streak means just about as much as Houston's 21 game win streak.  Seems as though what Jake has been saying all along is catching on there with some at the 4 lettered network.

Lakers come into tonight on a two game winning streak.  They too just got one of their stars back, Pau Gasol who had been out with an ankle injury for 3 weeks.  The Lakers are fighting for position within their division, and a loss to us tonight and a win for Phx against Minnesota tonight would tie them for their division.  You could say they are looking at these last games here as "must wins" as well.

Key Matchup: Josh vs Kobe Kobe has our number.  Well, its fair to say he has everyone's number, but I swear he must be averaging 45+ points against us over the past 3 years.  Josh has to play smart D on him.  I am sure we'll see signs of the Gladiator on him a lot tonight also.  Why?  Well because this is Avery's team and he just loves to see his "warriors" out there with their tired old legs going up against the best players in the game.  I think if Josh continues to attack the rim, he should have confidence to bring it defensively against Kobe.

X-Factor: Dirk How his ankle and knee respond after the other day should be huge.  Jackson and Harrington missed a LOT of shots last game, and I cant see Dirk getting lucky twice in a row going up against Odem and Radmanovic.  While seeing Dirk come back to pump up the team and the home crowd was huge and once again showed others what a "Warrior" this guy really is, his basketball game still was sub-par to "healthy Dirk" standards. (6-15 FG%, 5 Reb)  If he cant move down low and make hard cuts to the basket, fine.  Don't keep force feeding him the ball to only have him miss or get blocked.  Run the offense through someone else, and use Dirk to come off of screens and spot up open J's where the ball is kicked out to him.  How many minutes he plays tonight will be interesting.  X-Factor for LA will be Gasol and in seeing what he can do also.  He seemed a little more passive than Dirk in his first game back against Portland, looking more to distribute the ball than to score.

I just arrived in Phx today, going to the game on Sunday.  Hopefully we come out better than we did last time the Mavs and I were here