The Los Angeles Lakers held a 14-point lead with four minutes left in their Wednesday night game against the Dallas Mavericks. They won by just one, escaping by the skin of their teeth after blowing their advantage in the face of a massive Mavericks’ rally.
The Lakers were so close to a massive 4th quarter meltdown
Los Angeles came away with the W, but they blew a 14-point lead in four minutes. This can’t happen again, but it probably will.
Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
In fact, Los Angeles may have been forced to go to overtime, with all the momentum on Dallas’ side, had it not been for one god-awful decision by Wesley Matthews to foul LeBron James with two seconds left while the Lakers were in the bonus.
Matthews said after the game the foul was a byproduct of his being aggressive on defense:
“I shouldn’t have put us in a spot for that to happen, so yeah, it was the right call,” he said, via The Dallas Morning News’ Eddie Sefko. “I knew the situation. I wanted to make a play. I was ready to make a play. Can’t put us in a position to make that call.”
It was the worst possible thing he could have done. James made one of two free throws. One was all he needed to win the game.
In light of Los Angeles’ narrow victory, there are two things we must address.
First and foremost, Luka Doncic is very, very good
My colleague Matt Ellentuck would be proud of that sentence. I thought Doncic would be decent coming into the NBA. Never did I imagine he’d be this good, this soon. This kid is an all-star — if not now, then in the years to come.
Doncic scored 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting in the fourth quarter. All 14 of his points came in the second half, including the tough layup that tied the game at 113.
He even got an autographed LeBron James jersey hand delivered to him after the game.
Doncic is already special, and we’re barely 10 games in. One team even traded their chance to get him to draft another player — albeit one who also looks good. Lord help us all.
The Lakers almost had a terrible meltdown
Los Angeles nearly lost this game, and had they walked away with another defeat, the headline on this story would have been: “FIRE EVERYONE, TRADE EVERYONE.”
The Lakers escaped this game by a narrow margin. They won’t be so lucky in the future.
LeBron James preached patience and said the young Lakers going through this experience would the best teacher moving forward. But they almost lost this game. That would have been a heart breaker.
This isn’t the first time the Lakers have blown a double-digit lead, and unless something changes soon, it won’t be the last. They warded off Dallas this time, but Los Angeles will need to be better when dealing with teams in the playoff hunt.
Los Angeles can’t afford to continue giving leads away. LeBron James scored 29 points on 11-of-19 shooting. He’s trying to let his teammates grow, but on a team like this that’s trying to make the playoffs in the Western Conference, every win counts.
James is going to have to put the team on his back — just like he did in Cleveland — or else the Lakers are going to lose these tight games down the stretch. And it only takes one or two games gone the wrong way to be the difference between playoffs out West, and watching ping pong balls in June.
The Lakers and Mavs will be fun to watch — Dallas because of its electrifying rookie, and Los Angeles because of The King and his apprentices. James is going to need his supporting cast to step up, fast.
If they don’t, they might find roles elsewhere, very soon.
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