The Los Angeles Lakers had to tremble a little bit, but in the end they had a home win against the Dallas Mavericks. Beside the strong LeBron James this was also due to a drop-out from Wesley Matthews.
Both teams were 2-5 before the match, not a good start to the season if you want to reach the playoffs. The Lakers started with Lonzo Ball as point guard and Kyle Kuzma as power forward, so Rajon Rondo and KCP stayed on the bench for now. LeBron opened the game with a fadeaway goal and his team really got going. Nine of the first eleven throwing attempts landed in the basket, it seemed to become a clear game.
But after a bumpy start, the Mavericks made good use of their opponent’s bad defense, just like the Lakers did before. Many open triads, too easy moves towards the basket and bad decisions by the defenders let Dallas slowly come into play.
The Lakers, however, hit their first three throws from downtown, started a 15-0 run and clearly won the first quarter 38-21. Top rookie Luka Doncic didn’t come into the game at all, he quickly missed the first three threes. Nevertheless, the Mavs managed a 13-0 run in the second quarter and increased their outdoor throwing rate from 33 percent to 43.8 percent.
Dalles came close to 4 points, quickly made it to the board and the Lakers needed a little too much time to stop it. In addition, they had to take Kyle Kuzma (18), who had been really hot before, out of the game. In just two minutes, the Power Forward caused three fouls, including one absolutely unnecessary in the offense. Yet his team never lost the lead.
Harrison Barnes knocked in his third triumvirate at the end of the second quarter and it was 66-59 for the L.A. side, who were leading with 18 points, but Dallas came back with 21 points in just four minutes and the game remained exciting. Particularly noteworthy was the Lakers’ hitherto altruistic passing game, including some spectacular submissions from LeBron James, who scored 6 assists until the break.
After the third quarter, the Lakers had a triple quota of 62.5 percent and thus kept the Mavs at a distance. But when it went into Crunch Time, it became curious. Ingram booked an unnecessary offensive foul with six minutes left to play, his fifth, he had to go down. The same was true a short time later for JaVale McGee (16 points, 15 rebounds), who led his team with 5 blocks and had secured the zone well until then.
Suddenly Dallas was on 6 and Jordan (10) hit both free throws. Ingram made a step mistake with 33 seconds left on the clock, Barnes (19) knocked a threesome out of the corner and Kuzma went after a foul to the line. The first one went clearly wrong, the second one wobbled in, then Doncic (14) got the ball and levelled the game with a floater.
At that time the Mavs had never been in front – and nothing changed. Because then stupidity happened. With 2 seconds left on the clock, the previously good Matthews (21) LeBron (29) foul, who hit one of his free throws and decided the match. Dallas had no more timeout, an emergency throw from J.J. Barea missed his target.
The Mavs again had to do without Dirk Nowitzki, who will probably be out for a few more weeks. Maxi Kleber on the other hand played 20 minutes and got 4 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks. Worth seeing he also placed an Alley-Oop in the basket, which the strong Barea (15 points, 10 assists) had served him.
Los Angeles Lakers vs. Dallas Mavericks 114:113 (BOXSCORE)
LeBron James. The King was on the ball from the start, transforming not only the first but also the last roll of the game and securing his team the much-needed victory. As a playmaker, he laid spectacular passes (6) on his fellow players, even if these were not always used. The small forward also scored 29 points (11/19 FG), got 5 rebounds and stole the ball three times. When they needed him, he was there.
Wesley Matthews. Actually, the Shooting Guard had played a solid game and even led his team with 21 points (8/15 FG), but in the end he made a big mistake. LeBron was still far away from the basket, time was running down and he was fouling. Absolutely unnecessary and decisive in the end.
Luke Walton again opted for Lonzo Ball (12) instead of Rajon Rondo in the Starting Five and one can assume that it could stay that way in the future: The sophomore hit each of his three attempts from downtown, played good defense and harmonized with LeBron. 0 Turnover, 7 Assists and the second best plus/minus (+15) of his team, that was impressive.