Well, that was exhausting.
The Lakers and the Mavericks gave it their all. In the end, Dallas came out on top in a double overtime marathon, 119-115.
I honestly don’t know where to begin. It was honestly not a pretty game to watch. I don’t know which team is more mad about how the game was officiated. We saw some clutch and unclutch shots.
The endless debate, of course, is whether teams should foul up three when time is waning. I don’t personally subscribe to that (many would disagree with me on this). However, I do subscribe to stepping it up defensively in that kind of possession. The clock is your friend on defense.
I had mentioned in the game preview that guys should stay home and make Luka a scorer. But in that instance, it was probably better to have someone else beat the Lakers. Luka has been so clutch throughout his young career. And Luka made them pay. He made the three-pointer to tie it at 101 in single coverage against Dennis Schröder.
And the next one didn’t require having to foul up three. Luka made another three to tie the game with 48 seconds left in the first overtime. He was just so good in that game.
Christian Wood and Spencer Dinwiddie came up big in the overtime sessions. Wood did his job by blocking both Russell Westbrook and LeBron James on one side. On the other side, Dinwiddie made shots in close range to put the Mavs up five. Wenyen Gabriel was also big for the Lakers in overtime; he put in a dunk to cut the deficit down to three. Lakers had a chance to tie the game but LeBron missed a three with 20 seconds to go. Reggie Bullock split free throws but that was all that was needed. Lakers couldn’t convert in the following possession and the Mavs took the win.
The Lakers started out with no energy. They were down 19 early and it felt like they had to play uphill for the rest of the game. They did do a good job coming back later. They were also great in holding Luka to no points in the fourth quarter… until, of course, that clutch three.
L.A. did take care of the ball; they had 9 turnovers. But they also didn’t shoot very well (.393 overall and 10 for 41, which is .244, from three). You can’t have LeBron and Schröder combine for 0 for 13 from behind the arc. The Mavs had 16 turnovers themselves but they survived. Also, Luka had five fouls late in regulation and I was a little surprised the Lakers didn’t hunt him on defense in the overtime sessions.
Russell Westbrook led the team in scoring with 28 points and one confrontation. LeBron James ended with 24 points, 16 boards, and 9 assists. Wenyen Gabriel was the third leading scorer at 14 points. As much as it’s easy to blame the officials, LeBron had some questionable shots late in the game, particularly that late three that would’ve tied it with 20 seconds left. There was still plenty in the shot clock and felt they could’ve taken their time with it. Troy Brown, Jr. also had a three that was blocked by Tim Hardaway, Jr. but there was clearly contact made. Still, the officials stood by the call while the Lakers seemed to disagree with that.
Luka was his usual amazing self with 35 points, 14 boards, and 13 assists. Christian Wood provided 24 points, 14 boards, 6 assists, and 5 blocks. Tim Hardaway, Jr. was big again with 22 points and Spencer Dinwiddie had some nice dunks in the extra sessions on the way to 17 points.
Not off to a great start on this home stand. And it doesn’t get any easier as they take on Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.
The Lakers are now 19-23. They just have to worry about how they play because at some point, they can’t depend on every other West team to go on an inexplicable long losing streak like the Clippers and the Suns just did.
But this one hurts. It’s a game that got away from them. You can say it got away from them twice. But it’s the NBA and life moves on pretty quickly.
