GER - Nowitzki sidelined with ankle and knee injuries

DALLAS (NBA) - The Dallas Mavericks have arguably the best player in the world on their roster in Germany's Dirk Nowitzki.

Now they'll find out how good they are without him after last season's NBA MVP was lost indefinitely to a moderate high-ankle sprain and a
mildly sprained knee suffered in Sunday's loss to San Antonio.

He is hoping to return within two weeks.

"We'll take it day-by-day, trust our trainers, trust our doctors, then go from there," Nowitzki said to reporters at practice on Monday.

Losing Nowitzki is a hammer blow for the Mavericks as he has been averaging almost 24 points per game this season.

The Mavs are 44-26 but in the ultra competitive Western Conference, that means they are in seventh place so a play-off spot is anything but secure for a franchise that has made it to the post-season the
previous seven seasons and played in the NBA Finals two years ago.

This summer, Germany are hoping Nowitzki will play for them at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens.

In games on Easter Monday, Lamar Odom's lay-up in overtime propelled the Los Angeles Lakers to a 123-119 overtime win over the Golden State
Warriors.

With Spain international Pau Gasol still out of action nursing a sprained ankle, Odom had an eye-popping 23 points and 21 rebounds
while Kobe Bryant poured in 30, hauled in 11 boards and handed out seven assists.

Odom's biggest shot came with nine seconds left in OT when he laid one up and in to put the Lakers in front for good.

Sasha Vujacic of Slovenia also weighed in with 19 points.

London-born Kelenna Azubuike, a player Great Britain attempting to get a passport ahead of this summer's EuroBasket Division A games, had 18
points and seven rebounds.

The Lakers improved to 49-22 - best in the Western Conference - while Golden State, who had beaten LA 24 hours earlier on Easter Sunday,
dropped to 43-27.

Don Nelson's team is eighth in the Western Conference.

The Houston Rockets beat the Sacramento Kings 108-100, Philadelphia upset the Celtics in Boston 95-90 and New Jersey beat New York at
Madison Square Garden 106-91.

Miami edged the Milwaukee Bucks at home 78-73, Detroit scraped a 110-105 victory over Phoenix and Denver defeated the Memphis Grizzlies
120-106.

In the other game, Seattle ended an 11-game losing run by winning 97-84 over Portland.

FIBA