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The owners and players of NBA are trying to develop a collective bargaining agreement. The talks for the same are expected to be resumed on Monday. It has been a month since the lock out stared and both owners and players want to settle the differences as early as possible. It was on June 30th the old collective bargaining agreement was expired. Since July 1 the representatives from different sides have met and had discussions for several times. It is expected that top officials like Commissioner David Stern, President of Lakers Derek Fisher, and union executive director Billy Hunter will also attend the meeting on Monday.
The lock out started in august and NBA fans fear that due to work –stoppage, the regular season games will be affected. This is the second lockout in the history of the NBA league. Despite the lock out the NBA released the complete play schedule for 20110-12 on last Tuesday. The schedule will begin on November 1st. usually the schedule were released in late summer but this time as there were no transactions and with the league activities on hold due to lock out there was no reason for NBA to  wait for announcing the schedule.
There is a possibility that the NBA will lose games this season also because the economic issues regarding the changes in the division of revenue and changes in the salary cap are to be sorted out. In 1998 summer, due to the first lockout in NBA league, the season was started only in February and the sides got only 50 games to play that season. the NBA says that it is difficult to make profit under the old collective bargaining system with 57 % of the basket ball related income went to the players. In last season NBA claims that it lost about $300 million.
Players agrees to reduce the share to 54.3 % but according the last proposal of the owner’s in the new collective bargaining agreement the share is only 40% and the players are not happy with that. If the sides cannot decide on their differences the schedule will be at risk. The deal is expected to be completed soon so that the season will be saved. In that case the NBA champion Dallas Maverick will open the season with the Chicago Bulls and will have their final rematch on Christmas day.

The players

Excitement ran high in the stands and on court as the LA Lakers met Dallas Mavericks on field in the game 2 of the NBA playoff series. Eventually, the Lakers went down to the Mavericks and the scoreboard read 93-81 in favor of Dallas Mavericks. The Lakers look bleak with a 0-2 record in the playoffs. Lakers had Fisher, Bryant, Gasoil, Bynum and Artist on the field. The Dallas Mavericks team consisted of Kidd, Marion, Nowitzki, Stevenson and Chandler. The game was witnessed big ups and downs before settling to a stunning climax.

The game diary

In sheer contrast to the end, Lakers started out pretty well taking a lead of 10-6 over Mavericks. The crucial part of the first quarter of the game was the 9 three pointers shot by the Mavericks out of the total 20 in the game, which gave them a lead over the Lakers. In the second quarter, Dallas took an eight point lead, which forced Jackson to call in an early time off. Jackson’s talks in the time-off seem to have perked up Odom, who went on to score and cut the lead of the Mavericks by half. It was in the second quarter that Lakers began showing signs of their natural talent and went on to play some great shots. The third quarter again saw Mavericks gain ground.

The climax

The fourth and the most crucial quarter saw Mavericks hit back with a vengeance and take a 10 point lead over the Lakers. By then, the Lakers pace had slowed down and they seemed to visibly slacken. Although Fisher managed some great play, which brought enthusiasm back into the Lakers supporters in the stands, the Mavericks prevailed with a 15 point lead until the last few minutes. Nowitzki shot a basket for Lakers and brought the lead down to 12 points. Unfortunately, for the Lakers, the time ran out and Dallas won spectacularly with a 12-point margin. Lakers need to perk up their game and play to their full potential since they are two down in the first two matches. Dallas, on the other hand, has won both their initial matches.