It was an instant classic tonight at the Crypto.com arena between the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. In Luka Doncic’s first game against his former team, all the pressure was on the Lakers to defend home court and that’s exactly what they did to pick up their third straight win.
Emotions were running high leading up to the game and you could tell that Luka was trying to be aggressive very early on. He led the Lakers to an eight-point lead at the end of the first quarter and he was involved in everything as they went into halftime. The score nearly evened out again in the final 12 minutes until the Lakers made a run down the stretch to put the game out of reach (107-99).
Luka Doncic was deadly against his former club with 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 12 assists in 35 minutes. LeBron James dropped a team-high 27 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists on 11-17 shooting. In the backcourt, Austin Reaves finished with 29 points, three rebounds, and five assists in 38 minutes.
For the Mavericks, Kyrie Irving scored 25 points, seven rebounds, and four assists on 44% shooting. Klay Thompson had a signature scoring night with 22 points, eight rebounds, and one assist on 47.1% shooting. Max Christie contributed 10 points, one rebound, and six assists on 4-13 shooting.
This was a date that every NBA fan had circled on their calendar, but Luka Doncic especially was looking forward to the matchup. Not only did he go off with a triple-double, but the Lakers easily won the game to hold their fifth-place position in the West.
Lakers Defense Is Legit
After losing Anthony Davis, the Lakers were expected to have a major falloff defensively. Instead, the Luka Doncic era has come with a major surge on that end of the floor, and this game is the latest example of that trend.
With their quickness, physicality, and attention to detail, the Lakers were good at shutting down the Mavericks’ role players and it put all the attention on Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson to pick up the slack. As a team, the Mavericks were held to 99 points and shot just 35.7% and a measly 38.6% from three.
Over the past 18 games, the Lakers have the best defensive rating in the league and they have the third-best defense since trading Anthony Davis. With the big fella no longer around to clean up for everyone, it has forced the players to show a consistently stronger effort on both sides of the floor.
Luka’s First Triple-Double In Los Angeles
To say the pressure was on for Luka Doncic tonight was a major understatement as he went to face the team that traded him a few weeks ago. It has taken some time to adjust to his new surroundings, but Luka is showing more every game and he delivered with another excellent performance tonight.
In 35 minutes, Doncic put up 19 points, 15 rebounds, 12 assists, three steals, and two blocks on 6-17 shooting. It only took Luka five games to get his first triple-double and it’s an encouraging sign that he’s getting comfortable in the Lakers’ offense.
With averages of 19.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 5.8 assists as a Laker, Doncic still has a ways to go before he’s where he was in Dallas. He’s slowly working his way up to form and the Lakers are getting better and better as winners of three straight games.
Winning Plays In The Clutch
This was another close one for the Lakers, thanks to mistakes like missed free throws and turnovers that kept the Mavericks in the game. But when things got tight in the final frame, LeBron James stepped up once again to close out the competition in a dominant fashion.
James scored 16 points, five rebounds, and two in the fourth quarter alone and fans are calling him the favorite to win Clutch Player Of The Year. Meanwhile, Dorian Finney-Smith held it down on the other end with key defensive plays that prevented a Mavs comeback.
It was far from a pretty win for the Lakers but they showed up to play with the game on the line. This season, head coach JJ Redick is doing a solid job of bringing the most out of his players and ensuring they are making the right plays down the stretch.
With Mavericks GM Nico Harrison in attendance at the game, Luka wanted to make it a point to show off and show out in his new arena. His scoring was relatively low, but the Lakers played so well as a unit that it did not prevent them from winning.
As winners of three straight games now, the new Lakers era is off to a better start than anyone could have hoped for. While they may not be on par with the Thunder or Grizzlies in the West, the Lakers are a legitimate title threat and we saw tonight that they can get it done on both ends of the floor.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We appreciate your support.
