Lakers Will Be Missing Gasol As Mavs Visit

Lakers coach Phil JackZen announced today that he’ll be missing one of his stars for the Friday meeting with the visiting Dallas Mavericks.

   JackZen said after Thursday’s practice that big man Pau Gasol will not play tomorrow because of a hamstring problem.

   That could help even things out, as Dallas’ Josh Howard (ankle) is also out – though that tit-for-tat thought didn’t work out for the Mavs in Tuesday’s season-opener as they lost to the Antawn Jamison-less Wizards.

   Gasol struggled through preseason with the injury problem – and while JackZen said he might return to the Lakers lineup later in the weekend, LA is certainly unaccustomed to bad luck when it comes to injury. Last year, Kobe, Gasol and Odom – the team’s big three – missed a combined total of five of the team’s 105 games in the way to the NBA title.