Anthony Davis' Big Outing Leads Lakers' 27-Point Comeback vs. Mavs
DALLAS — After leading the Los Angeles Lakers by as many as 27 points in the first half, the Dallas Mavericks squandered their lead and often trailed during the fourth quarter. The Mavs ultimately lost the game with 111-108 being the final score, dropping their record to 32-30 on the season amid a heated Western Conference playoff seeding race. The Lakers improved to 28-33 overall.
The start to the game was impressive for the Mavs, with a massive 3-point differential going in their favor. Luka Doncic was hot on step-back 3s; his teammates were hitting shots and getting stops. Only at the 7:26 mark of the second period did the Lakers reach the 20-point threshold.
Using a 10-2 start to the second quarter, the Mavs extended their lead to 20. At that point, the Lakers were shooting 7-32 (21.9 percent) from the floor and had missed all 12 of their 3-point attempts. It was a strong sign for a Dallas squad that had consistently struggled to win non-Luka minutes before acquiring Irving.
The Lakers had begun rallying back and trailed by just 14 at halftime, which was the initial momentum to take control of the game. After halftime, the Mavs struggled to produce and were outscored by an 11-point margin in the third quarter. The offense stalled out with just 20 points, while Anthony Davis proved too much for Dwight Powell to handle more consistently.
"It started way before the third [quarter]. We lost our rhythm in the sense of just playing the game and not worrying about the other elements," Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. "Our rhythm there in the first two and a half [quarters], we were playing at a high level on both ends, offensively and defensively. And then we just got a little distracted with the whistle, and we just gotta be better with that."
A made 3-pointer from Davis tied the game at 81 early in the fourth quarter. On the following possession, LeBron James gave the Lakers the lead with a step-through finish in the post. It continued to be a tight game, but the Mavs showed some progress late in the fourth quarter.
Christian Wood made a spray-out pass to Josh Green for a corner 3, then blocked Davis on the other end. The Lakers still led 93-90 with 6:49 remaining in regulation. Both teams traded blows throughout the final period. With a smaller matchup on LeBron James and no rim protector on the floor, they failed to offered resistance inside defensively.
Entering a timeout with 3:43 remaining in regulation, the Mavs held a 98-97 lead. There was an exchange of superstar plays down the stretch. Davis scored an isolation bucket in mid-range, then Doncic fired back with a step-back 3. The inability to contain Davis or James inside the 3-point line proved costly in the final few minutes.
A 3-point make from Holiday with 6.1 seconds left to play cut the Mavs' deficit to 109-108. However, a turnover on the play before seemed to result from Doncic believing he couldn't take the ball into the backcourt after a deflection on a broken inbounds play, which seemed to feature a miscommunication. The rest of the game came down to relying on missed free throws that didn't come.
"I totally forgot you can go backcourt," Doncic said. "It was my mistake."
Davis finished with 30 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, and three blocks in 37 minutes. James had a big outing, too, with 26 points and eight rebounds. The play of Jarred Vanderbilt and Dennis Schroder shouldn't be overlooked. Vanderbilt totaled 15 points, 17 rebounds, and four steals. Schroder had 16 points and eight assists.
Doncic led the Mavs with 26 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, but had six turnovers. Irving racked up 21 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists, but he hadn't shot the ball well overall. No other starter scored over six points, but a combined 31 points came from Tim Hardaway Jr. (17) and Wood (14).
So far this season, NBA teams were 138-0 in games that featured a lead as large as 27 points, per ESPN Stats & Info. The Mavs became the first team to drop a game under those circumstances. A consistent theme was the focus placed on the officiating crew by the Mavs' players as the lead narrowed and was ultimately lost.
"I'm not the savior here. I'm watching just like you guys, and as a team, we gotta mature, and we've got a lot of new bodies coming back, and we gotta grow up if we want to win a championship," Kidd said of the loss. "There's no young team that's ever won a championship, mentally or physically."
The Mavs return to action on Tuesday when they take on the Indiana Pacers. It will continue a six-game homestand out of the NBA All-Star break.
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