LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers began their three-game road trip against Luke Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks and came away with a 119-110 win in overtime.
The Lakers got off to another slow start and quickly found themselves starring at an early double-digit deficit. The Mavericks’ five-out lineup featuring Kristaps Porzingis gave them issues as the two bigs had trouble with recovering back to shooters, resulting in several good looks for the opponent.
Kyle Kuzma made his 2019-20 NBA season debut when he checked in midway through the quarter and earned his first point after drawing a foul on a drive to the basket.
Alex Caruso also made an early appearance as he and Kuzma helped spark a late quarter run to narrow the Mavericks lead to five heading into the second.
Dallas was able to recapture some of their early momentum as their bench did a good job of moving the ball and finding the open man. Meanwhile, Los Angeles’ offense stagnated as they could not seem to capitalize on a few open looks.
Despite Davis’ presence, the Mavericks had few issues getting to the rim and converting on some easy layups and open jumpers, pushing their lead up to fifteen.
James and Davis took over the offense late, but the Lakers still found themselves down 10 at the end of the half.
The Lakers came out with much more energy and focus as they reeled off a 10-0 run to tie up the game.
James heated up from the field as he knocked down a trio of triples and gave the purple and gold their first lead since the opening period.
However, Doncic answered with a couple of threes of his own and got the Mavericks offense back on track, helping them regain the lead. With James on the bench, Los Angeles once again turned toward Davis to lead the offense who picked up some easy buckets in the paint but they still went into the fourth quarter down nine.
The two teams traded baskets before a Caruso dunk on Maxi Kleber injected some life back into the team. James then began to take over as he hit a contested midrange jumper and then hit Danny Green in transition for a three that tied the game midway through the fourth.
The game came down to each team’s All-Star players as James, Davis, and Doncic each took turns making plays down the stretch, but a buzzer-beater three from Green sent the game into overtime.
The Lakers duo once again alternated dominating on the offensive end as Davis and James scored nearly all the points in the extra period and led the team to a thrilling win.