The Los Angeles Lakers took a three-game winning streak into Wednesday’s contest against the Dallas Mavericks, and the contest served as a stiff test of their newfound momentum.
After playing Dallas even in the opening minutes, the Lakers started to fall behind late in the first quarter, and they found themselves down 62-46 at halftime. Things got even worse in the third quarter, as the Mavs went up by as many as 20. The Lakers simply couldn’t hit shots from the outside in the first three periods, and they were unable to take advantage of a Mavs defense that came in ranked 25th in defensive rating and 28th in points in the paint allowed.
Then Los Angeles went on a furious rally in the fourth quarter, and it looked like all the momentum had radically switched. Suddenly, it was Dallas who couldn’t buy a basket, while L.A. got hot from the outside. The Lakers briefly took a 101-99 lead with just over a minute left, but they wouldn’t score again, as their comeback bid fell short, 104-101.
They now hold a 9-7 record as they prepare to head out on a four-game road trip that will include games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers and Oklahoma City Thunder, all of whom have winning records.
Anthony Davis: D-plus
Davis did a good job on the boards by claiming 14 rebounds, but he was neutralized in this game by the Mavericks’ defense. They didn’t allow him to get the ball in the low post much, and when he did get the ball there, they threw double-teams at him. Sometimes Dallas would front him, but it would have a second defender near him to prevent him from releasing toward the hoop.
He scored only 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting and only attempted two free throws, and he went scoreless in the second half.
Some of this is on Davis to get deeper post position or to get behind the Mavs’ defense for some easy buckets off of lob passes or dribble penetration. But some of it is also on his teammates and head coach Darvin Ham to get him easier looks. It seems Davis can be easily neutralized when he has to deal with a heavy dose of double-teams, either with or without the ball.
Taurean Prince: B-plus
Prince has been struggling from the outside for a while, but he did a good job in this game of attacking the basket instead. After missing three of his first four 3-point attempts, he hit a big contested 3-pointer about midway through the fourth quarter to bring the Lakers to within six points.
The wing finished with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting, six rebounds and two assists in 37 minutes.
Max Christie: B-minus
Christie started in place of Cam Reddish, who was unable to play because of groin soreness, and he made a decent contribution. He shot 3-of-7 from the field and scored seven points and added two rebounds in 23 minutes, and he had a nice dunk in traffic off dribble penetration early in the third quarter.
D'Angelo Russell: B-minus/B
Russell missed his first four shots of the game and didn’t score until midway through the second quarter. He then made his first four shots of the second half, but he didn’t score at all in the fourth quarter.
He finished with 15 points, five assists, three rebounds and one blocked shot. He continues to also do a good job of protecting the ball, as he committed only one turnover in 24 minutes.
LeBron James: A-minus
James couldn’t get his shots to fall consistently in the first three quarters of this game. He scored only 10 points during that stretch, but he looked like a different player afterward.
He started the fourth quarter with a three-point play after rebounding his own miss, and overall he went 6-of-11 and scored 16 points in the period. He was as big a part of the Lakers’ late comeback as any player was.
Unfortunately, he was also a sizable culprit in this loss. With the Lakers down 102-101 and just seconds remaining, James had the ball just inside the 3-point line, and he attempted to force the ball into Davis, who was double-teamed near the hoop. The pass attempt was intercepted by Luka Doncic, forcing Austin Reaves to commit an intentional foul on Kyrie Irving, which led to two successful free throws by Irving.
With 3:46 left in the game and L.A. down by five, James also missed two free throws after being fouled on a shot attempt. He was just 4-of-7 overall from the foul line, and he came into this game shooting a lackluster 69.9% from the charity stripe.
Rui Hachimura: C-minus/D-plus
Hachimura was 1-of-2 from downtown, but overall he couldn’t get his shots to go through the hoop. He shot just 4-of-11 from the field, giving him nine points plus three rebounds and one assist in 26 minutes.
Austin Reaves: B-plus
Reaves struggled a bit with his shooting in the first three quarters. He was 3-of-8 during that time, and although he banked in a halfcourt heave at the first-half horn, it was subsequently waved off because he got it off a bit too late.
The guard got going in the fourth quarter, making four of his six shot attempts in the period to help spearhead the Lakers’ rally. But he also had a couple of miscues. With just over four minutes left in the fourth quarter, Irving hounded Reaves as Reaves brought the ball upcourt and forced him into an eight-second violation. Then with 22 seconds left, Irving hit the go-ahead 3-pointer after Reaves left him partially open to play help defense on Doncic, who made the pass to him.
Reaves finished with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting, six rebounds and six assists, but he went only 1-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Christian Wood: D
After playing well offensively on Tuesday, Wood had yet another weak outing against Dallas. In 15 minutes, he attempted only one shot, which he missed, and he scored only one point. He did help out, however, with five rebounds and one assist.
Jaxson Hayes: B
In 11 minutes, Hayes got four rebounds and scored a basket near the end of the first quarter. Unfortunately, he got an offensive rebound off a Reaves miss and got fouled on the putback attempt with 4:37 remaining in the fourth quarter, only to miss both free throws.
