Tikteknu: today's summary clip in Sport, 27.2 (Sport1)
The Los Angeles Lakers are on the right track.
Anthony Davis scored 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, LeBron James scored 26 points, and the Lakers beat Dallas 108:111 tonight after coming back from a 27 (!) point deficit in the middle of the second quarter.
In addition to the comeback, the Lakers showed character in the final quarter, which featured 13 lead changes, en route to their fourth win in the last five games.
This is the club's biggest comeback in the last 21 years, since the game in which they trailed by 27 at the beginning of the fourth quarter against the same Mavericks, before making a 30-point turnaround on the way to 103:105 in December 2002.
"The guys didn't give up for a single moment," said proud coach Darwin Hamm at the end, "they had a frustrated look on their faces, but it wasn't defeat. Everyone just wanted to stay in the game."
LeBron James injured his ankle during the game, but continued to play despite the injury and pain.
"I had no intention of going to the locker room and not finishing this game," said LeBron, who will be tested in the coming days, "I understood the importance of the game, and with the momentum we had, I knew it was important to win the game where we fell behind like that."
LeBron James against Kyrie Irving, Los Angeles Lakers against the Dallas Mavericks (Photo: GettyImages, Ron Jenkins)
On the other hand, Dallas coach Jason Kidd knows that his team messed up, and after the addition of Kyrie Irving, there are high expectations from it.
It should be noted that Kidd himself used only one timeout in the second and third quarters, when his team lost control of the game.
"I'm not the savior here. I'm not playing," Kidd said.
"I'm watching, just like you.
"As a team, we have to grow up... we have to grow up - if we want to win the championship.
There's no young team that's ever won a championship, mentally or physically."
The Mavs' starting five included four players 30 or older. The exception is 23-year-old star Luka Doncic. While Kidd didn't specifically criticize Doncic, But he also emphasized that his team did not like the refereeing in the game, because as he often does, Doncic also tonight had a lot to argue about whistles and the referees' decision-making, even during the running of the game.
"Just focus on this move," Kidd said.
"You can't get distracted by the whistles, just keep playing. That's how it works. We've seen a lot of basketball games. When you have a big lead, you know which way the whistles are going to go."
Doncic finished with 26 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, but he faltered at the end, after dominating the first quarter (14 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists).
Doncic had more field goal turnovers in the final three quarters, during which he shot 5-for-14 from the field.
"We lost our rhythm, in the sense of just playing our game, and not worrying about the other elements," Kidd said.
"We played at a high level offensively and defensively, and then we just got a little distracted with the whistles. We just have to be better with that."
Four games together, three losses.
Kyrie and Luca (Photo: GettyImages, Tim Heitman)
Doncic was asked if he allowed his disagreements with the judges to distract him, and confirmed: "That's probably true."
However, Doncic didn't think his loss of composure was the main reason the Mavs suffered their third loss in his four games alongside Kyrie Irving.
"You can say that, but we still had a big lead," Doncic said.
"Sometimes you're going to lose it, but I think we just relaxed a little bit and we have to work on it."
Doncic made an uncharacteristic mistake in a critical possession.
Dallas took the court from a timeout with 18.1 seconds left and the Mavs trailing by three points, Irving took the ball out, and Doncic tried to save it from going into the second half instead of just catching the ball - and thus the Slovenian recorded a decisive loss.
"My mistake," Doncic admitted, "I completely forgot that it is allowed to go to the back half of the court. It was my mistake."
sport
NBA
Tags
Luka Doncic
Kyrie Irving
Dallas Mavericks
Los Angeles Lakers
