LA Lakers Confidently Defeat Doncic and the Mavs, 108-95

The Los Angeles Lakers have defeated Dallas Mavericks in the closing game of Sunday’s program, 108-95. The purple and gold were superior in this one, not allowing the guests from Texas to have the slightest chances of winning, and led throughout the entire contest. After beating the Trail Blazers last night this was the second win for the LAL.

“We wanted to come out with great energy, and great intensity,” said Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, ” and I felt we did that throughout the whole game.”

The Lakers stopped Dallas offensively, decreasing their shooting percentage to just 36% from the field, and just to remind you, the Mavericks are the no.1 offense in the league.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVTeTRMrNj8

Luka Doncic has been held to 19 points, but with a bad shooting percentage, 5-of-14, and the Slovenian missed all of his 6 three-point attempts. He would also have just 7 assists and 4 rebounds, but with 6 turnovers, which is way below the level, he set during this campaign.

Meanwhile, on the other end, LeBron was stopped too. LBJ had just 13 points, shooting 3-of-10, but did record 13 assists. However, they had his teammates stepping in instead of him. Apart from Anthony Davis, who is supposed to be there, Caldwell-Pope also played very well, delivering 19 points.

“I feel good, I feel I’m in a great rhythm. The mind is clear,” said KCP during the on-court interview.

After the game coach, Frank Vogel praised LAL’s shooter saying that he fought all the adversities and reached an excellent level of play.

“Guys can’t go into a shell if they’re facing heavy criticism. He didn’t do that.”

The Lakers led all the time. Except for a 0-2 lead of the guests at the start, the hosts were up throughout the entire event, and already at the halftime, it was obvious that Vogel’s guys pull all the strings on the court. They were up 54-43, and after that steadily increasing the distance which stood at 17 points at one moment.

Davis was 8-of-12 for 23 points, and also had 9 boards and two steals. The guy who showed up right out of nowhere was Dwight Howard with 15 buckets, missing just one of his seven shots from the floor. JaVale McGee scored 13, and Danny Green 10 points.

🚫 KCP sends it to the seats! 🚫

4Q underway on ESPN pic.twitter.com/FSUC1nFoZh

— NBA (@NBA) December 30, 2019

Dallas had problems with injuries. Tim Hardaway Jr, apparently hurt his hamstring during the game, while Luke Doncic went through the concussion protocol at the halftime, but got back on the floor.

“It’s a tough situation I wanted to come back out,” said Hardaway Jr. “It just sucked, not being out there and helping my guys out.”

Delon Wright had 14 off the bench for the Mavs, with three steals, Dorian Finney-Smith and JJ Barea added 12, while Kristaps Porzingis scored just 11 with 7 boards and shooting from the field 4-of-10.

This was a second of back to back nights for either of the teams, but the Lakers seemingly had more energy and will to win this one. The team from LA is 26-7 now and is awaiting the Suns on Wednesday, the first day of the New Year. After that, they have three more matches at home, against the Pelicans, the Pistons, and the Knicks before going to Dallas for another clash with the Mavs, the fourth this year. At the moment, LAL leads the series 2-1. At first the Lakers won in Texas, and then Mavs responded in LA.

The Mavericks (21-11) travel to OKC to face Thunder on Tuesday, then have a six-game homestand against the Nets, Hornets, Bulls, Nuggets, Lakers and the 76ers.