The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from Lakers’ Double Overtime Loss to Mavs

The Lakers started the second half of the season with a heart breaking double overtime 119–115 loss to the Mavericks in a game decided by a pair of game-saving threes by Luke Doncic and missed foul calls by the refs.

THE GOOD!

Lakers Almost Won Game … even though they were missing Davis, Reaves, Walker, and Beverley. The game showed the Lakers current roster can still compete and is worthy of the front office getting help via a major trade.

Free Throw, Fast Break, and Points-in-Paint … differentials were again big factors for the poor shooting Lakers, who won free throws differential by 8 points, fast break points by 10 points, and points-in-the-paint by 4 points.

Points Off Turnovers … was another positive for the Lakers, giving up only 7 points off just 10 total turnovers while scoring 18 points while causing 19 Mavericks’ turnovers, a differential of 11 points in Los Angeles’ favor.

Offensive Rebounding … also favored the Lakers, who grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to just 3 from the Mavericks. LeBron James led the way with 6 offensive boards while Wenyen Gabriel had 3 offensive rebounds.

Great Games from Gabriel and Nunn … Wenyen Gabriel had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, and was +9 for 33 minutes while Nunn had 12 points and a team-best +10 plus/minus in 18 minutes on the court.

Russell Westbrook’s Defense … on Luka was great and showed he could fill the Lakers’ need for a physical wing defender to slow down and limit bigger scorers. His physical defense on Luka was impressive.

THE BAD!

Missed Free Throws … were big reason Lakers lost last night’s game. While the Lakers did make 8 more free throws, they would not have lost this game had they just shot their normal 79.5% instead of just 63.0% from the line.

Poor 3-Point Shooting … put the Lakers in a situation where they had to play an almost perfect game to win against the Mavs. Lakers lost the 3-point shooting differential by 12 points, shooting a miserable 24.4% from deep.

Bad Game from LeBron … per his standards was another reason the Lakers lost. Though he played 47 minutes,, James had a tough shooting night, needing 28 shots for 24 points, 0–7 from deep, and 6–10 from the line.

THE UGLY!

Bad Game from Thomas Bryant … showed why the Lakers might still trade for a veteran center like Myles Turner. TB was outplayed a second straight time by a bigger and more athletic center in Mavs’ Christian Wood.

Horrible Game from the Refs … who did not blow their whistles on obvious fouls on Lakers shooters at end of regulation and first overtime. The worst officiated game I’ve seen this year with no consistency in calls.

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