Back-to-backs are rare in the preseason, but the Los Angeles Lakers had one this week. After losing to the Phoenix Suns on the road on Tuesday night, the Lakers were back in action on Wednesday, taking on the Dallas Mavericks at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Playing key players on back-to-back nights in the preseason doesn’t make much sense, so the Lakers chose to stagger their roster. That meant Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton sat out on Wednesday night and as a result, the Mavericks earned a 121-94 victory.
One player who did suit up for the Lakers was Gabe Vincent, and he came out on fire, hitting his first five 3-point attempts. He also found Jaxson Hayes for a pair of dunks as the Lakers jumped out to a 22-10 lead.
A couple of former Lakers helped settle the Mavericks in though as D’Angelo Russell had a three-point play and then Max Christie hit a corner triple. RJ Davis had a nice stretch off the bench to close the first quarter and the Lakers led 36-32.
Jarred Vanderbilt and Rui Hachimura heated up to begin the second quarter with five straight points each. Hachimura wasn’t done there as he made two more midrange jumpers to get the lead back to double digits.
Anthony Davis had a couple of buckets inside, but Dallas otherwise couldn’t get much going offensively. Vincent hit yet another triple and L.A. took a 66-53 lead into the halftime locker room.
Vanderbilt hurt his thigh towards the end of the first half and although it didn’t look serious, he wound up sitting out for the rest of the night.
With the Lakers being so shorthanded, Davis, Russell and the Mavericks began chipping away at their deficit. They weren’t able to get over the hump in the third quarter though as the Lakers’ two-way and Exhibit 10 players hung in there to take an 86-84 lead into the fourth.
That lead was short-lived, however, as the Mavericks ripped off seven quick points to begin the final quarter. They continued to play their regular rotation players while the Lakers gave more opportunities to guys at the end of their roster, allowing Dallas to pull away late for the easy win. The Mavericks outscored the Lakers 37-8 in the fourth quarter.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will wrap up the preseason at home against the Sacramento Kings on Friday night. They will then open up the regular season on Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors.
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