Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers came back down to Earth as they were humbled at Staples Center by Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.
After a rousing overtime win against them earlier in the 2019-20 NBA season, the Lakers seemingly had no answer for Doncic and the Mavericks this time around as they torched them in the second half behind some shot shooting from beyond the arc.
Dallas controlled the game as they were able to take advantage of Los Angeles’ frustrations with the officiating and build a 20-point lead that they rode all the way until the final buzzer.
Even with Davis doing his best to keep the Lakers in the game, it was not enough as the Mavericks had an answer for every one of their runs. And after the game, Davis admitted that Los Angeles is looking to respond quickly from losses no matter who they face next.
“Our whole thing, we don’t wanna lose two in a row ever,” Davis revealed.
“It’s definitely gonna be a bounce-back game. We wanna make sure that we correct everything that we did poorly tonight, especially rebounding. Then the third quarter, we shot a couple of bad shots. The zone was a different look. We’ve been forced into some zone offense this year and we didn’t run it very well in the third quarter, but we’re gonna be fine. Watch the film, learn from it, get better, move on, and get ready for the next opponent.”
With the way Davis and the Lakers were playing during their 10-game winning streak, it is hard to imagine them ever losing back-to-back games, but the upcoming schedule will surely test them as most of the teams they face off against are projected playoff teams. Although Los Angeles clearly has the requisite talent to compete with anyone in the league, they could still very easily drop a few games in these next several weeks given the higher level of competition.
Even with an admirable goal of not wanting to suffer consecutive losses throughout the season, what is more important is how well the Lakers respond when adversity does hit them. Opposing teams have already shown they are going to give Los Angeles their best shot and how they react to that will truly tell everyone just how real their contender status is.
The Mavericks should serve as a good lesson that the purple and gold are still very much a work in progress and their upcoming game against the Denver Nuggets will be a good measuring stick to see where they are with nearly a quarter of the season over.
