Lakers’ superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis struggled in the second half of Sunday’s game as they fell to the Dallas Mavericks at home 114-100. This loss snapped their ten game win streak, which was the second longest in the league behind Milwaukee’s current streak of 11.
After going into halftime with a 62-59 lead, the Lakers completely unraveled in the third quarter getting outscored 35-17. The duo of James and Davis combined for just 17 points and eight rebounds in the second half. While their play deteriorated, Mavericks star Luka Doncic came alive and scored 21 of his 27 points adding five assists, six rebounds and three steals. The Mavericks also had the advantage in second-chance points, 23-10 and offensive rebounds, 16-9.
“Our defense was terrible today, we didn’t rebound the basketball therefore we keep giving them second-chance points and they made us pay with threes. We know what we did wrong,” Davis told Brian McMenamin of ESPN.
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There’s no reason the Lakers need to panic about one loss. Their team is completely different than last year and without the burden of waiting for young players to prove themselves. This year they have two all-stars and they’re rated the number one defense in the league, according to NBA.com. It’s hard to believe a year ago this team finished the season with a 37-45 record missing the playoffs for the sixth year in a row.
Fast forward to today and their record is still the best in the Western Conference at 17-3. They carry a two and a half game advantage over Denver as they face the second seed Nuggets at the Pepsi Center Tuesday. Although eight of their next 11 games are on the road against playoff teams, Head Coach Frank Vogel doesn’t sound worried. “That’s part of growing together, how you respond to losses. If we play to our abilities, there’s nobody we can’t beat and nowhere we can’t get a W,” Vogel told ESPN.
“Our whole thing is we don’t want to lose two in a row, ever,” Davis said.
The Lakers look to bounce back with a win on Tuesday to avoid their first losing streak of the season.
