Lakers' Anthony Davis Accepts Blame For Maxi Kleber's Mavs Game-Winner
DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks used a game-winning 3-pointer from Maxi Kleber to achieve a 111-110 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Anthony Davis took ownership for giving Kleber the space to get a clean shot off after previously fouling him on a 3-point attempt.
"I already came in and told them the last play was my fault," Davis said.
With the Mavs managing to get the ball to Kyrie Irving to create the chaos of the team's final possession, he brought two defenders trying to double team him along for the ride. A shot fake on a possible mid-range pull-up took both defenders out of the play, but also delayed Davis, who was rotated to help in the paint, just long enough to create a pass to Kleber on the weak-side wing.
The Lakers' defensive strategy seemed to be to make anyone other than Irving beat them. The ideal circumstances for the defense would be to play off of a bad shooter and pre-rotate in help. Kleber, who often made teams pay for leaving him open in last year's playoffs, did it again in a big moment. Davis just couldn't get out to contest tightly enough to alter the shot given how accurate the pass from Irving was to Kleber's shot pocket.
"On the last play, they double-teamed, and Kai tried to get it out of his hands. I assume the game plan is for anybody else [to beat them], and then just everybody else has got to be ready."
Kleber explained: "I don't necessarily think it's a big mistake. You live with the shot, kind of, but it was still like a high contested shot, I think..."-
Davis provided the Lakers with significant contributions overall, finishing with 26 points and 10 rebounds. However, with the implications being so significant for both the Mavs and the Lakers in a tightly contested Western Conference playoff race, Kleber being left open enough to convert from 3-point range changes the landscape significantly.
It was a tough final few minutes for Davis, who had fouled Kleber on a 3-point attempt and missed a free throw all before being on the wrong side of a game-winning shot.
"It's tough all the way across the board," Davis said.
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