Although the Los Angeles Lakers had an impressive 112-105 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are second in the Western Conference, on Monday, there was still a sense that they were in trouble. The win gave them a 20-21 record, which was only good enough for 10th place in the West.
They hosted the Dallas Mavericks, who were 24-17, on Wednesday and hoped they could duplicate Monday’s performance.
Instead, they improved on it.
The Lakers fell behind by seven points early in the first quarter, but their superstar duo started to assert themselves, giving them as large as a nine-point lead in the opening period. They went cold early in the second quarter, particularly from long-range, but they were able to take a 55-53 lead at halftime.
Los Angeles quickly extended its lead to 10 early in the third quarter, then went up by as many as 24 behind its running game. After going 4-of-16 from 3-point range in the first half, it got hot from that distance and shot 15-of-23 overall to score 42 points in the third period, while the Mavs were as chilly as the polar air mass currently engulfing Middle America.
The Lakers led 97-80 heading into the final 12 minutes, and they glided to an easy and pleasing 127-110 win over Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving’s crew.
Indeed, it was their transition game that made the Mavs look like they were playing with parachutes attached to their backs. The Purple and Gold had 32 fast-break points to just seven for their opponents, and they even went 12-of-28 from downtown while Dallas was just 11-of-40 from that distance.
Although it’s a small sample space, L.A. has now won four of its last six games. It will host the Brooklyn Nets and Portland Trail Blazers on Friday and Sunday, respectively, giving it an opportunity to establish a four-game winning streak.