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Jalen Brunson After Mavs Pass Jazz in Standings

Stick A Fork In ‘Em: Can Doncic, Mavs Finish Off LeBron’s Lakers?

The Dallas Mavericks will try to add salt to the Los Angeles Lakers’ wounds on Tuesday night.

As the 2021-22 NBA regular season nears its end, things are trending in two completely different directions for the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers ahead of Tuesday night’s head-to-head matchup.

The Mavs are 46-29 and have moved up to fourth in the Western Conference standings with a real change of catching the third-place Golden State Warriors. The Lakers, on the other hand, are 31-43 and have fallen to 10th in the West after losing to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night. 

The Lakers have lost seven of their last 10 games, and both LeBron James (ankle) and Anthony Davis (foot) have been listed as doubtful to play against the Mavs on the NBA's official injury report. If that holds up, it will mean we only got to see James and Mavs superstar Luka Doncic duke it out only once this season, as Doncic missed the first matchup in December due to an ankle injury of his own.

LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers, Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks

Although there are a handful of games left to play, could the Mavs potentially put an early end to the Lakers' misery at American Airlines Center on Tuesday night? The Lakers have looked like a team that has mostly given up for a while now – whether its intentional or not – and this game could be one where the Mavs stick a fork in them, so to speak.

The Lakers are just a half-game ahead of the 11th-place San Antonio Spurs (31-44), who have won four games in a row as the season winds down. A Mavs' win over the Lakers would put L.A. in a tie with San Antonio, but the Spurs would still take over the 10th spot due to owning the tiebreaker. Despite the season series between the Spurs and Lakers being tied at 2-2, San Antonio has the better conference record by 4.5 games.

LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers

Both games the Mavs have played against the Lakers this season have been close ones, but it really feels like Dallas is overdue for a convincing win in the series, especially if James and Davis are going to be sidelined. In a 109-104 loss to the Mavs on March 2, the Lakers trailed by as many as 21 points before James turned back the clock in the third quarter to get his team back in the game.

If the Mavs do win on Tuesday night, the psychological damage of being pushed outside the Play-In Tournament's boundaries might be too much for this already-tired Lakers team to overcome.

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