The Los Angeles Lakers closed out the first half of the regular season on Thursday night, hosting the Dallas Mavericks at Crypto.com Arena.
The game was missing some star power with Luka Doncic and Cooper Flagg both out. Doncic loves taking it to his former team, but the Lakers had to get it done without him in this one and they did exactly that with a 124-104 victory. L.A. now heads into the All-Star break with a 33-21 record.
Without his co-star in the lineup, LeBron James knew that he had to play with high energy from the jump. He scored or assisted on the Lakers’ first 23 points of the game, which was a sign of things to come.
James finished the night leading all scorers with 28 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists on 10-of-20 shooting in 35 minutes. It was LeBron’s first triple-double of the season and he made history as the oldest player in NBA history to do so. He passed Karl Malone, who had 10 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists at the age of 40 while playing with the Lakers on Nov. 28, 2003.
While James led the way, he did have some help as the Lakers did a great job sharing the ball to the tune of 35 assists in the convincing victory.
Rui Hachimura had a great night shooting the ball with 21 points on 9-of-13 from the field and 3-of-4 from deep. Jaxson Hayes also had one of his best games of the season, filling up the stat sheet with 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block.
Austin Reaves, who remained on a minutes restriction, came off the bench and gave his team a boost with 18 points, four rebounds and six assists on 5-of-10 shooting in 28 minutes.
After a rough end to the first half, the Lakers locked back in to begin the third quarter and outscored the Mavericks 32-19 in that frame to take control of the game, never looking back in the victory.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will now get some much-needed time off for the All-Star break before returning to the court next Friday against the L.A. Clippers at Crypto.com Arena.
Jaxson Hayes will be participating in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest this Saturday though, while LeBron James and Luka Doncic are in the All-Star Game. Doncic has been dealing with a hamstring injury, so it remains to be seen if he will suit up in the game that will be played at Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
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