DALLAS — The Lakers should have known the performance the Dallas Mavericks put together on Tuesday night was coming.
For no other reason, Coach JJ Redick essentially publicly warned his team what could happen if they took the Mavericks lightly with All-Stars Luka Dončić (calf) and Kyrie Irving (back) sidelined.
Even with that high-scoring duo unavailable, Dallas is a deep team full of players who were ready to step up.
And that’s exactly what happened – with the Lakers falling to the Mavericks, 118-97, to go winless on their two-game trip in Texas after losing to the Houston Rockets on Sunday.
Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 21 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots, but he was uncharacteristically inefficient as a scorer, shooting just 7 for 18 from the field, missing a number of shots from short range.
LeBron James finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Austin Reaves added 15 points (5-of-14 shooting) and three steals, while Max Christie had 12 points and three assists. Dalton Knecht added 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
But the Mavericks attacked the Lakers’ defense, getting the switches they wanted before taking advantage in isolation.
“It’s NBA players, it’s guys who are given an opportunity to do more with their game,” Redick said before the game at American Airlines Center. “And the thing about Dallas, even without two superstars, they have a deep roster with another nine really good NBA players. They can either score, defend, both, rebound.
“They’re a deep team. There’s a reason that they made the Finals last year. There’s a reason that a lot of people think they’re one of the true contenders in the West, and I don’t think our group will take them lightly. We’ve been in enough games this year where teams have been short-handed and have been in battles.”
Quentin Grimes was one of those players who stepped up for Dallas, scoring a game-high 23 points (six 3-pointers) to go with nine rebounds and six assists.
P.J. Washington added 22 points (making all three of his 3-point shots) and eight rebounds.
Former Laker Spencer Dinwiddie finished with 19 points, eight assists and six rebounds.
Dallas shot 47.4% (18 for 38) from 3-point range, with many of them coming at opportune times and many of them wide-open looks.
The Mavericks closed the first half on an 11-0 run for a five-point lead then outscored the Lakers 63-47 after halftime.
The Mavericks outrebounded the Lakers 44-33 and outscored them 52-40 in the paint.
More to come on this story.