Facing the Los Angeles Lakers away from home this afternoon (November 23), Luka Doncic experienced a relatively ineffective match in finishing.
Although the Slovenian star finished 4 rounds at Crypto.com Stadium with 30 points, 12 rebounds and nearly reached a triple-double with 8 assists (0 turnovers in 38 minutes), he only had a shooting performance of 10-26 FG. (38%) and 3-12 3PT (25%).
Particularly in the fourth quarter where the Dallas Mavericks lost a 20-point advantage with the opponent’s 30-8 run, Doncic had only 1-7 FG.
Fortunately, the Dallas Mavericks still escaped spectacularly with a 104-101 victory despite leading the Los Angeles Lakers 91-71 at the end of the third quarter.
Right after LA took the lead 101-99, the pair Luka Doncic – Kyrie Irving spoke up. Doncic was the assister and Kyrie threw the “clutch” to put Dallas back in the lead (102-101).
The away team then took advantage of the turnover and LeBron James’s unsuccessful attempt to score an equalizer to win the match.
Watch Kyrie Irving’s “clutch” 3-pointer help seal the victory for the Dallas Mavericks, stopping the Lakers’ comeback
Luka’s assist for Kyrie at the end of the fourth quarter was definitely the most important assist in this match. But a situation that made fans admire even more was the pass that Doncic made in the second half.
Standing near the 3-point circle, Luka “performed magic” by passing the ball through LeBron James’ crotch to the corner of the court to a waiting teammate.
In response to Doncic’s beautiful pass, young shooter Josh Green completed the attack with a very sweet 3-point shot into the basket.
“Magician” Luka Doncic’s assist to pierce LeBron James’ groin
It seems that no one expected Luka Doncic to make this “magical” move.
Even Doncic’s teammate Josh Green took a few beats to fully control the ball before launching the shot. On the other side of the front line, the Lakers players almost stood still, including LeBron James.
Although the Regular Season has only been going for 1 month, this is definitely one of the early candidates for the most beautiful assist award of the season.
This ball combined with Kyrie Irving’s “clutch” throw was like a spiritual medicine for the Dallas Mavericks on the day they almost lost inexplicably.
Holding a 20-point advantage at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Luka Doncic and his teammates only scored 4 points in nearly 6 minutes, becoming the foundation for the Los Angeles Lakers’ 21-4 run.
It took Kyrie Irving’s 7-0 personal scoring streak and two foul shots from LeBron James for the Mavericks to secure the victory.
With this result, Dallas has climbed to 3rd place on the Western rankings with a total record of 10-5. The Mavericks’ next appearance will be a clash with the LA Clippers taking place on Sunday morning, November 26.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers (9-7 record) continued their losing streak as they entered the second match of the back-to-back series. This is only their second defeat since the beginning of the season at home at Crypto.com Arena.
LeBron James and his teammates will have 2 days of rest before starting a long away trip, starting with the match against Cleveland Cavaliers next Sunday morning.
