After snapping a season-long four-game losing streak last night in Portland, the Los Angeles Lakers will be back on the court Sunday night in what is a highly-anticipated rubber match against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. Also very important for the Lakers, both of their stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, said following Saturday night’s win that they intend to play tonight against the Mavericks.
The first two matchups between these two teams were excellent in different ways. In the first game, a Lakers win on Nov. 1 at Dallas, James and Doncic had dueling triple-doubles in a Lakers overtime win. Then on Dec. 1, Doncic avenged that loss with a supernova second half as he and the Mavericks caught fire from downtown.
If the Lakers are going to avenge their loss from earlier this month, the 3-point line and their defense on Doncic is the place to start. After starting the game trapping Doncic, the Lakers backed off of that strategy. But credit needs to be given to the Mavericks and their 3-point shooters for getting open on their way to 49 3-point attempts. Meanwhile, the Lakers only attempted 27.
While the Lakers offense can score high totals as they did last night, the Mavericks have the best offensive rating in the league through the first two months of the season. Their defensive strengths of size and length will be tested by the Mavericks 5-out offensive attack, so the Lakers may have to play a little bit more small ball in this one if they want to curtail the perimeter attack of a strong Dallas squad.
[lawrence-related id=24161,24155]