Luka Dončić has seen every defense there is. But some come at him a little faster than others.
Like the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day.
They brought double teams from everywhere and with furious abandon, swarming Dončić whenever he got into any sort of attack position.
It took awhile. But Luka, Jason Kidd and the Mavericks figured it out.
With Dončić utilizing a variety of spin moves and other getaway tactics to avoid double teams and spend more time in the post, the Mavericks carved up the Lakers in the third quarter and rolled to a 124-115 victory over LeBron James and Co.
The Mavericks flashed perhaps their best ball movement of the season in the third quarter, when they outscored the Lakers 41-11 in the first nine-plus minutes.
“It’s what we talked about at halftime,” coach Jason Kidd said of the changes. “Let’s start thinking about the paint before we start shooting threes. In the third quarter, the ball touched the paint, we started playing through Luka in the post to create some different double teams. And Luka being the quarterback, he found open guys.”
With superior ball movement (a season-best 31 assists for the game) they would end up winning the third period 51-21, tying the franchise record for points in a quarter.
Dončić said he thought it was more a matter of the Mavericks executing better than any technical adjustments that were made at halftime.
“I don’t think it was an adjustment, it was just making the right play,” he said. “We didn’t make shots in the first half. We kept making the right play and we got open shots, open layups. And the biggest thing was getting some stops.”
By the start of the fourth stanza, the Mavericks were comfortably ahead 94-75 and could start looking forward to their Christmas dinners and opening presents. It would be hard to receive anything sweeter than the whipping they gave the Lakers – an important win to go 18-16 and drop the Lakers to 13-20.
For the Mavericks, they now have a modest three-game winning streak and will try to make it four in a row Tuesday when Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks visit AAC.
They haven’t won four straight since early November.
The Lakers would get within 11 in the fourth quarter, but plays like Luka’s lob to Christian Wood for a dunk kept the visitors from getting any closer until the final minute. Wood would finish with a huge night: 30 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, four steals and two blocks.
He almost dwarfed Luka’s 32 points, nine assists, nine rebounds and zero turnovers after the first quarter. Tim Hardaway Jr. added 26 points and had six of the Mavericks’ 18 three-pointers (on 44 attempts, 40.9 percent)
It was a festive day all-around. It allowed Luka to jaw with his longtime rival Patrick Beverley, mostly about nothing in particular, Dončić said.
“It was just fun,” he said. “A lot of talk – but in a good way.”
Before Sunday’s game, Dirk Nowitzki’s statue was unveiled in the plaza at the front of AAC.
And then, fans got to see the guy Nowitzki said is closing the gap on Michael Jordan for greatest NBAer of all time pay his tribute to Dirk by shooting a one-legged fadeaway in the first minutes of the game. That was when the Lakers raced out to an early lead, only to get run down in the third quarter.
“You got a guy today in LeBron that’s using it,” Kidd said of Dirk’s signature shot.
And before it was over, LeBron and Luka put on the kind of show that doesn’t come along very often and also might not be around a whole lot longer.
And Luka couldn’t leave without giving a nod to the greatest Maverick of all time after securing the game and having attended the statue unveiling pregame.
“It was great,” Luka said. “I was just happy for him. He deserves all the things that are happening to him. The statue is amazing.”
Injury update: The Mavericks were without five members of their rotation: Kemba Walker, Maxi Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith, Josh Green and Frank Ntilikina.
And then there were the Lakers, playing without Anthony Davis.
Kidd said the Walker knee rest/injury recovery process is a product of Walker having played 42 minutes in Cleveland on Dec. 17, then also following that up with action the next two games. He’s missed the last two games.
“We rolled him out there and played 40-plus minutes,” Kidd said. “So to be able to get treatment and looking at our schedule, we’re playing every other day. We’ll try to get him some rest and hopefully we can get him back this week.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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