Luka Dončić reunited with the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, and showed them exactly what they gave up when they executed the most shocking trade in NBA history.
The Slovenian superstar recorded his first triple-double as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers in a 107-99 win against his old team. He finished with 19 points on 6-of-17 shooting, 15 rebounds, 11 assists, three steals and two blocks.
LeBron James and Austin Reaves weren’t shabby either, each recording at least 20 points, but it was Dončić’s night, as so many anticipated from a player reported to be furious about getting traded in the dead of night.
Dončić came out of the gate clearly gunning to humiliate his old team. He stared down their bench after making one of his first 3-pointers and showed up everywhere when he was on the court. That included one of the best assists of the season, when he whipped the ball behind his head for a no-look pass to Austin Reaves.
The Crypto.com Arena crowd joined in, directing “Thank you, Nico” chants at Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, who was in the building, multiple times. To their credit, the Mavericks shook off the early onslaught and had the game close again by midway through the third quarter.
They made the Lakers uncomfortable on defense, until a final run pushed L.A. up multiple scores with two minutes to go. After a slow first half, James started making the plays that make you forget he’s 40 years old. And that’s why quite a few people thought allowing him to join forces with Dončić was a mistake.
Afterward, Dončić admitted that facing his former team wasn’t easy.
Luka Doncic on playing his former team for the first time tonight: “Sometimes I didn’t know what I was doing [out there] … I am just glad it’s over.”
As eventful as Tuesday’s game was, it was just the preface to what will be the big event: Dončić’s return to Dallas on April 9. That will be required watching for any fan of the NBA. And, you know, drama.
Here’s how it all went down at Yahoo Sports:
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Lakers played 24 minutes with both LeBron James & Luka Doncic on court tonight.
They played 11 minutes with Doncic on without James.
They played 13 minutes with James on without Doncic.
The Mavs scratched and clawed their way out of a 16-point deficit, and had a few chances — a pair of 3s by Naji Marshall, another by Klay Thompson — to go on top midway through the fourth quarter. They all came up empty, though, and a 14-point fourth quarter from LeBron James was enough to slam the door shut. Luka gets his first triple-double as a Laker (19 points, 15 rebounds, 12 assists, three steals, two blocks) in a 107-99 win over his former team.
FINAL: Lakers 107, Mavericks 99
Luka Dončić was as advertised, from passes to pettiness. He gets his first triple-double as a Laker and, with a little help from LeBron James and Austin Reaves, gets a win over a team he is going to hold a grudge against for a while.
Pro tip, Mavs: Might want to get a body on 23 in purple and gold. Guy with “James” on the back of his jersey.
Great work by the Lakers defense there: Dorian Finney-Smith chases Kyrie Irving over the top of the ball screen; Luka steps up to contest Kyrie’s pull-up, forcing him to drop the ball off to a rolling Naji Marshall; LeBron slides up to stop Marshall in the paint; DFS sprints from the top of the key to the corner to take away PJ Washington’s corner 3; LeBron slides along the baseline to force PJ into an awkward reverse layup try that misses everything.
Push off the miss, Luka kicks it ahead to LeBron with a deep seal in the paint, dunk. Lakers by 5, timeout Mavs. And it all starts with on-a-string rotations.
Whoa. LeBron airballed a free throw. Don’t see that every day.
The Lakers are getting a ton of open 3’s with Dallas scrambling defensively, but they’re not hitting many.
They’re now 11 for 40 (27.5%), while the Mavs are 16 for 38 (42.1%).
We might be five and a half minutes away from Nico Harrison making the most satisfied walk out of a building in human history.
Klay has somehow caught fire in the fourth. And the game is tied at 91. Dallas is finding offense because the defense is there. On a string. Competitive.
Luka Doncic gets his 10th assist on a LeBron James 3-pointer and he officially has his first triple-double as a Laker with 17 points and 15 rebounds, plus three blocks and two assists.
LeBron James put the Lakers back up 5 with a beautiful transition bucket, but Klay Thompson just scored three times in four possessions to tie it.
You hear coaches say it all the time: “Make them feel you.” The goal defensively is to force the offense out of its comfort zone, force opponents to do something they don’t want to do; with their ball pressure, high pickup points, switches, aggressive blitzes and connectivity, the Mavs made the Lakers feel them in the third. The game’s in the mud now. Can the Lakers get it back to glitz and glamour?
The Lakers offense has somehow grinded to a halt in the third quarter. LeBron not in rhythm, they mustered only 19 in the third.
It’s 78-77 Lakers at the end of the third quarter. The Mavericks had multiple chances to take the lead and failed, but they are still definitely the team with momentum now.
The Mavs don’t have much healthy size right now, but they do have some high-quality complementary wings. Christie, Marshall and Dinwiddie have all made contributions tonight, and now Danté Exum is joining them, with five quick points and a self-sacrificial low-man rotation to force LeBron James into a turnover. Really scrappy performance by Dallas here in the third.
Dante Exum is down clutching his head after a HARD elbow to the face from LeBron James. Looked unintentional and not a foul, but that had to hurt. Officials are reviewing as a flagrant.
