Mavericks dominate 2nd half, end Lakers 10-game win streak

The Dallas Mavericks remembered how the last matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers ended and vowed not to even let it get that close the second time. A dominant second half gave Dallas a double-digit win.

If you ask any true Dallas Mavericks fan out there, they would say that the Mavs are now 2-0 against the Los Angeles Lakers this season. According to the NBA official two-minute report from the last meeting, this would be true, however, the team went into today with revenge on their minds. The first half wasn’t great but the Mavs stayed in the game, trailing 62-59 after 24 minutes.

The start of the second half presented two very different teams from the first half. The Mavs started hitting everything and the Lakers couldn’t get anything to drop. Dallas opened the half with a 9-0 run with five from Luka Doncic and four from Tim Hardaway Jr. Anthony Davis knocked down a pair of free throws before a vicious slam from Luka put the Mavs up by six.

LA called a timeout and answered with an AD three, cutting the lead back to three. The Mavs then went on a 17-point run with five from Dwight Powell, five from Kristaps Porzingis, four for Luka and three for Dorian Finney-Smith. The Mavs pretty well dominated from that point forward.

Dallas ended up outscoring the Lakers by 18 in the third quarter and allowed only 38 points in the entire second half as the defense locked down LeBron James and stopped all the second chances they were getting from the first half. The Mavs won a tough rebounding battle and had fewer turnovers than the Lakers, two key stats for both teams success.

Luka had a really nice game despite a slow start. He scored only six points in the first half, but ended with 27 to go along with 10 assists and 9 rebounds. He had some great help in today’s game as four other Mavs players scored at least 15. Delon Wright had a great game with 17 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals. He did not have a single turnover either.

Dwight Powell also had likely his best game of the season with 15 points, 9 rebounds and a steal. He played particularly strong defense on Davis and Dwight Howard in the second half. KP finished the game with 15 points and 6 rebounds, but shot the ball well at 5-11 from the field. Justin Jackson was the other with 15 points on 6-10 shooting and 3-5 from three.

This should definitely be viewed as the Mavs best win of the season as once again the starters for both teams were pulled well before the final buzzer. Dallas has made it a point to win some of these games well before the final minutes of the game and it is much better for my heart than last year’s clutch game every other night.

Dallas will look for three straight on Tuesday as they take on the Pelicans in New Orleans. The Mavs beat the Pels earlier this season, but the game was relatively close. Dallas needs to make sure they keep their foot on the pedal as they prepare for the last four games of an eight-game Western Conference stand.