A dazzling first half from Luka Dončić in his return to Dallas helped the Lakers beat the Mavericks and clinch their first playoff berth since 2020 on Wednesday with a 112-97win.
Luka Dončić scored 31 of his 45 points in the first half. LeBron James had 27 points, most of those coming in a strong fourth quarter, to go with his seven rebounds and three assists. Austin Reaves had a quiet night with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Rui Hachimura scored 15 points on 3-7 shooting from range. Dorian Finney-Smith had five points and five assists.
Emotions were high as the game started with Mavericks fans cheering every time Luka had the ball. The Lakers missed a few gimme shots and played frantic basketball.
After a while, LA settled in with Luka being the leading scorer for the team with seven points. It turned into a back-and-forth affair and at the first timeout the Mavs were up by two.
Naji Marshall and Dereck Lively II scored a combined 11 of Dallas’ first 24 points. Lakers champion and old friend Anthony Davis was off to a slow start for the Mavericks with just two points.
Luka found comfort from behind the arc, hitting three of his first four shots.
Luka is up to 14 points in 9 minutes after hitting his 3rd 3-pointer already, putting the Lakers up 24-21.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) April 10, 2025
Los Angeles struggled offensively, shooting just 38% from the field as a team. LA did not end the first well, turning the ball over twice, leading to the Mavericks going up by four.
The second quarter started with a great play from Vando with his pesky defense. He stole the ball and passed it to LeBron for a layup. Dorian then dished an impressive pass to Vando for a dunk.
A play that had everyone cheering was a lob Austin threw to LeBron for the empathic dunk.
Luka was subbed back in and immediately scored four straight points to tie the game. After Luka came up with a steal, he dished it to Dorian for a shot from behind the arc. He missed it, but Austin ran in for a putback dunk that shocked everyone.
The Lakers had scored eight straight, until another old friend, Max Christie, drained a 3-pointer. A quick four-point burst from the Mavericks gave them a surge of momentum.
Luka then scored five points straight, helping stop that small run. Marshall continued his hot shooting for Dallas, pushing his point total to 15. At halftime, the purple and gold were up by three.
Los Angeles started the second half missing shots and playing much slower until, of course, they woke up with Luka scoring four quick points. After a 3-pointer from Rui, the Lakers’ lead was nine.
LA’s defense on AD was suffocating. They kept double-teaming him and forced him to make bad passes and turn the ball over. Marshall scored on a jumper out of a Mavericks timeout to stop some bleeding.
Four points from LeBron and five points from Rui continued to push Los Angeles’ lead. The once 13-point lead was down to seven as Dallas pieced together a run with three minutes left in the quarter.
The Lakers were on a three-minute scoring drought until Luka converted on a floater. LA did a good job staying ahead despite the Mavericks making a few runs to cut double-digit leads. At the end of the third, the Lakers were up seven.
LA held the Mavs to 19 points in the 3rd Q, and take an 83-76 lead into the final period.
Doncic has 38 points, 5 boards, 5 assists and 4 steals in 31 minutes.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) April 10, 2025
The final frame began badly for the Lakers as they missed their first shot and the Mavericks scored six straight points. Dallas took the lead by one with a dunk from Christie. LeBron answered with a layup to retake the lead.
An Achilles heel for Los Angeles has constantly been turnovers. It was biting them in the behind and the Mavericks were taking advantage. A 3-pointer by former splash bro Klay Thompson off one of those turnovers put Dallas caused LA to take a timeout.
Out of the break, Rui answered with a jumper in the paint. After a 9-0 Lakers run, PJ Washington scored six points in a row for Dallas.
It didn’t matter, though, as LA kept their foot on the gas with LeBron taking over the scoring. He converted on multiple difficult layups among many Mavericks defenders.
The last minutes of the game were all Luka with seven points and endless cheering from his teammates and the Dallas fans.
Key Takeaways:
Luka dominating in the first half and LeBron in the second half is such an incredible luxury to have. Smiling through it all, can’t believe this is our life.
Teams with length will give the Lakers constant issues, but if they buckle down and play smothering defense, they work around those issues very well as we’ve seen.
The Lakers’ next matchup will be against the Houston Rockets on Friday at 7:30 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.