Mavericks overtime loss to Lakers highlights important miscues

The Dallas Mavericks may have lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in overtime last night, but this minor setback is just another reason to believe in this young, impressive Mavs team.

It is hard not to love this Dallas Mavericks team with the heart and skill that they show on a nightly basis. After jumping out to a 3-1 record to start the season, the Mavs faced their stiffest competition yet as the Los Angeles Lakers came to town to show why they are considered a top 2 team in the West.

The game went really well for the Mavericks for about 47 minutes and 59 seconds. Before we get into the finish, let’s talk about the first 47:59.

The game started with an interesting set of events. The Lakers won the tip and immediately ran a set play to free up Anthony Davis for an alley-oop slam from LeBron James. The Mavs, who are no strangers to the alley-oop, answered the very next play with a Luka Doncic to Dwight Powell flush.

Dallas then scored the next 10 points, bringing the score to 12-2 early in the game. The Lakers offense was stymied by a focused Mavs defense who didn’t allow a field goal for more than 4 minutes after the opening dunk from AD. Dallas led by as many as 14 in the first quarter, but the Lakers fought back going on a 12-3 run to finish out the first.

The Mavs controlled most of the second quarter as well, going up by as many as 15 at 51-36 with 3 minutes left in the half. Once again, however, the Lakers wouldn’t go down quietly, cutting the Mavs lead to only 10 before the halftime buzzer.

The third quarter started off all Lakers, who scored 15 of the first 18 points of the second half, giving them a lead less than four minutes into the third quarter. The two teams traded buckets for the next few minutes, then traded turnovers and missed shots for a few minutes after that. With 3:30 left in the third, LeBron left the game and the Mavs jumped back out to a 9-point lead by the end of the quarter.

Dallas allowed another early run with the Lakers recapturing the lead with 4 minutes left in the game. Baskets were traded again until Dallas was down by 1 with 40 seconds left. Luka attacked the lane, collapsed the defense and dished to Dorian Finney-Smith in the corner for what could have been a dagger three with 31 seconds left.

The Mavs get the needed stop on the other end and pass the ball out of harms way, only to put Dwight Powell on the line for two shots with 6 seconds left and a 2-point lead. Both free throws would completely ice the game. Powell goes 1-2.

The Lakers have one final shot, which they capitalize on with a corner three from Danny Green. Controversy surrounding this play continues to go unanswered, but have faith that the mainstream sports media won’t be talking about anything negative towards a LeBron-led team. Here is a video of what happened on that final sequence:

The Lakers went on to dominate in overtime as the Mavs were unable to bounce back from the heartbreak of that dagger three from Green. Sadly this has become a constant thing with the Mavericks, who have lost 8 of their last 10 overtime games.

Here are just a few reactions from the game.

Next: Bad officiating, worse execution