The Los Angeles Lakers lost 97-118 to the Dallas Mavericks on the road in a surprising result as the Mavs were without Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and Daniel Gafford on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Lakers were led by Anthony Davis‘ inefficient 21 points (7-18 FG) and 12 rebounds while LeBron James put up 18 points (6-12 FG), 10 rebounds, and eight assists. Austin Reaves had 15 points (5-14 FG) and three steals in the loss as Dalton Knecht came off the bench to score 13 points (5-8 FG). Max Christie (12 PTS, 5-9 FG) and Dorian Finney-Smith (11 PTS, 3-4 FG) also had solid performances.
Fans were stunned to see the Lakers lose by over 20 points against a short-handed and fatigued Mavs team who had lost their last five games.
“That was a horrible L for the Lakers. You gotta win the games you supposed to win. No way you lose this game against the Mavs with no Kyrie and Luka. The Mavs just played harder for 48 minutes… from offensive rebounds to 50/50 balls,” said Kendrick Perkins who couldn’t believe the Lakers let this one slip.
“No Kyrie, no Luka. They need to walk back to LA, Lakers full of bozos,” said one fan furious at this result.
“The way the Lakers are playing is exactly how you stay your ass in the Play-In year-after-year. Completely unserious basketball,” said one fan upset about the Lakers’ lack of urgency in this game.
“No Luka or Kyrie, you could see this Lakers loss coming from a mile away,” said one fan who expected this loss.
“These are the kind of losses that affect seeding in a huge way down the stretch. Losing to a Kyrie/Luka-less Mavs team is embarrassing,” said one fan wondering about the long-term implications of this loss.
“No trade will help the Lakers if they play unserious like this.,” said another disappointed fan.
“Tonight’s game plan was to run the offense through Anthony Davis, and he didn’t deliver,” said one fan upset with Anthony Davis’ performance.
The Mavericks were led by a scintillating Quentin Grimes performance off the bench, with the swingman putting up 23 points (8-17 FG), nine rebounds, and six assists. PJ Washington had 22 points (9-14 FG) and eight rebounds while Spencer Dinwiddie had 19 points (8-15 FG), six rebounds, and eight assists.
This was a result of the Mavs playing a very perimeter-centric offense with aggressive ball movement. They nullified Anthony Davis’ interior defense by keeping the Lakers’ lethargic defense chasing the ball around, allowing open shots which were converted at a 47.4% rate tonight (18-38).
The Mavericks haven’t won a game without Doncic and Irving since last season, with this being a genuine shock result. The team will be without Doncic for the rest of January with Irving also expected to miss a week or two with a lumbar injury.
This was a crucial seeding clash, as the Mavs and Lakers came into tonight with an identical 20-15 record. The Mavs improve to 21 wins while the Lakers fall to their 16th loss. This gives the Mavs provisional control of the No. 5 seed in the West, dropping the Lakers to No. 6 for now.
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