The Dallas Mavericks broke their five-game dropping streak with a giant victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday evening, 118-97. Spencer Dinwiddie mentioned in a mid-game interview that their aim was to maintain the Lakers below 100 factors, which is precisely what they did. However additionally they bought an enormous increase from the three-point line, hitting seven extra threes than the Lakers.
Regardless of a close to triple-double from LeBron James, the Mavericks primarily saved Anthony Davis in verify. He had 21 factors, but it surely occurred on simply 7/18 photographs. Any time you possibly can power Davis to place up a efficiency like that, you may have a great probability of profitable, particularly when Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and Daniel Gafford are all out.
Listed here are three takeaways from this large victory.
READ MORE: Quick-handed Mavericks snap dropping streak, upset LeBron James, Lakers, 118-97
Dallas has struggled with turnovers, particularly since Luka Doncic left the lineup because of harm. They solely had ten towards the Lakers, an enormous enchancment over the 15 that they had towards the Grizzlies on Monday evening or the 20 that they had towards the Rockets final week. They can not afford to make any errors with out their two principal stars, they usually did a great job on this one.
Quentin Grimes continues to step up when he must, and he had one in all his finest performances Tuesday evening with 23 factors, 9 rebounds and 6 assists on 6/11 three-point taking pictures. He turns into untouchable on this crew, even within the final 12 months of his contract. He is been talked about as a tradeable asset, however the Mavericks want gamers like this on cheaper contracts who can provide them occasional 20-point performances and shoot higher than 40% from three.
For Dallas to win with out Irving and Doncic, it is going to primarily come on the defensive finish. Permitting the almost 120 PPG they allowed throughout their five-game dropping streak wasn’t going to be sufficient. In order that they set the tone on protection on this sport, holding the Lakers to 45.3% from the sphere and 31.4% from three. Holding LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves to a mixed 18/44 taking pictures goes to win video games most of the time.
READ MORE: Ridiculous LeBron James Dunk Goes Viral at Mavericks-Lakers
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