DALLAS -- Kobe Bryant returned to the Los Angeles Lakers lineup Friday night and Metta World Peace saw a decent amount of action against the Dallas Mavericks, but these Lakers don't resemble anything like the teams these two old-timers once led to two championships.

On a night the Mavs practically begged the Lakers to steal a road win, Los Angeles simply wouldn't oblige. Dallas took a 90-82 win despite shooting 36.6 percent from the floor, 25.9 percent from beyond the arc and getting outrebounded. Fortunately for the Mavs, these are the bumbling, stumbling Lakers who have one win in now their first nine games.

L.A. shot the 3-ball decently well (9-for-25), but that was about it. While shooting 33.0 percent overall, the Lakers managed 31 points combined in the middle two quarters. Still, L.A. managed to get to within 52-50 during an ugly third quarter that included six of the Lakers' 22 turnovers. The Lakers sputtered down the stretch of the quarter and actually lost a point in the quarter to trail 64-55.

"Well, we had 22 turnovers, and that really hurt us," Lakers coach Byron Scott said. "And we had a lot of opportunities on the break where we just messed up (and) we didn't get anything out of it -- we either turned the ball over or we just took a bad shot. So, we've just got to get better at converting. When we get those opportunities -- we had a number of them tonight -- we just weren't able to convert them."

In the fourth quarter, they got the deficit down to 71-70, but guard Lou Williams missed a short jumper on the next possession. Down 74-72 with 6:08 left in the game, forward Julius Randle drove, had an opening, but had the ball slip out of his hands and out of bounds. Dallas guard Deron Williams responded with a jumper to extend the lead to 76-72.

Dallas never relinquished the lead and then center ZaZa Pachulia, who led the Mavs with 18 points and 15 rebounds, and Deron Williams (13 points, seven assists) combined for 12 of the Mavs' final 14 points to seal the win.

"We didn't get off to a great start, but I thought we brought a lot of energy when we needed it," said Dallas guard Devin Harris, who had nine points and four assists off the bench. "We finished the game on a nice stretch. I thought, defensively, we played well all night long, but we are still a work in progress."

The Lakers and Bryant got off to a fast start, building a 19-9 lead midway through the first quarter. But one of the league's worst defensive teams, L.A. quickly lost the lead as Dallas closed out the first quarter on a 22-5 run.

Bryant's strong early effort -- 14 of his 19 points came in the first half -- helped Los Angeles stay close in the second quarter, closing to 41-40 with 2:42 to go. But again L.A. failed to close a quarter. Dallas got a Pachulia layup and a free throw, a Chandler Parsons dunk and then Devin Harris raced through a stand-still Lakers defense to beat the clock for a layup and a 48-40 Dallas halftime lead.

"Today was poor shooting?" World Peace asked rhetorically. "I couldn't tell you. I know sometimes in basketball the round thing doesn't go in the round thing. It's that simple."

Jordan Clarkson led L.A. with 21 points. Besides Bryant, only Lou Williams finished in double digits with 10 points. Dallas also only had three players score at least 10 points. Backup center Dwight Powell joined Pachulia and Deron Williams with 10 points and also 12 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki finished with nine points.

"Both of those guys are playing big on the inside," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "And Powell had a couple big rebounds in those last few possessions and in those situations when the ball gets kicked around and someone comes up with a wide open 3. So coming up with those is big."

NOTES: Lakers G Kobe Bryant returned to the starting lineup Friday after missing the last two games with a sore back. ... The Lakers wrapped up a five-game road trip and lost the last four. ... Dallas beat the Lakers in Los Angeles, 103-93, on Nov. 1. ... Lakers second-year F Julius Randle is making a homecoming of sorts. He played his high school basketball in the Dallas suburb of Plano. ... Lakers coach Byron Scott has taken criticism for not playing rookie G D'Angelo Russell much in the fourth quarters of games. ... Mavericks F Chandler Parsons played Friday against the Lakers, but will sit out Saturday's game against his former team, the Houston Rockets. "I'm sure I'll still get booed on the bench," Parsons told ESPN. As part of his maintenance plan coming off offseason knee surgery, Chandler's minutes are being limited and he is not playing on the second night of back-to-back games. Chandler said he expects his minutes to be ramped up on a weekly basis. ... Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said Lakers F Metta World Peace will make an "excellent" coach one day because of his passion for the game.