LeBron James, Lakers fall to Cooper Flagg, Mavericks in first game since injuries to Doncic, Reaves

DALLAS — The Lakers got their first taste at life without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves on Sunday night at American Airlines Center. 

And it was just as bitter as imagined, but not for the expected reasons. 

The Lakers, mostly, didn’t have any troubles scoring against the Mavericks despite being without their star duo who combined to average 56.8 points and 13.8 assists during the regular season. 

But it was their defense that let them down in their 134-128 road loss to the Mavericks in their first game since Doncic and Reaves were ruled out for the remainder of the season because of a Grade 2 hamstring strain and Grade 2 left oblique muscle strain, respectively. 

The Mavericks scored 41 points in the opening quarter, had 67 points at halftime and scored another 40 points in the third in their win over the Lakers. 

LeBron James led the Lakers with 30 points, 15 assists and 9 rebounds. 

Luke Kennard had 15 points, 16 rebounds, 11 assists for his first career triple-double. 

Jaxson Hayes scored 23 points off the bench and Rui Hachimura recorded 21 points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome another special performance from Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg.

What it means

The Lakers lost consecutive games for the first time since late February, dropping them to 50-28 on the season, the same record as the Nuggets. 

The Timberwolves’ loss to the Hornets on Sunday, giving them a 46-32 record, guarantees the Lakers won’t fall any lower than fifth in the West.

The Lakers, who are still in third place in the Western Conference, won the tiebreakers against the Nuggets, Rockets and Timberwolves for playoff seeding after winning the regular-season series against all three teams and winning the Pacific Division. 

Turning point 

When the Lakers didn’t get defensive stops on back-to-back defensive possessions against the Mavericks after they cut their deficit back down to 112-107 with 8:45 left. 

After being behind by as many as 22 points in the second quarter, the Lakers kept chipping away at their deficit, trailing by six at halftime and two midway through the third before entering the fourth down by 10.

Marvin Bagley’s putback and Brandon Williams’ free throws to put the Maveicks up 116-107 were a couple of missed opportunities by the Lakers to cut even deeper into the deficit. 

MVP: Cooper Flagg

The Mavericks rookie followed up scoring a career-high 51 points with 45 points, nine assists and eight rebounds against the Lakers.

He shot 14 of 27 from the floor, and made 15 of 17 free throws. 

Stat of the game: 21 

The Lakers’ 12 turnovers weren’t the issue.

It was their inability to get stops after turnovers, and their poor transition defense, that hurt them the most. 

The Mavericks scored 21 points off the Lakers’ giveaways, and 24 fastbreak points. 

Up next

The Lakers will return to Southern California to host the Thunder on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena.

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