This year is the first time the NBA has organized a cup tournament right in the middle of the Regular Season (In-Season Tournament, or IST for short).
It can be said that this was a quite successful experiment when IST’s appeal was relatively great, attracting the attention of not only fans but also making the players compete with fire.
Even better, the first championship team of the In-Season Tournament was the Los Angeles Lakers and the MVP title belonged to LeBron James, names that brought great resonance.
But the first time is always a bit strange, even for champions. Just three days after lifting the trophy, LeBron James and his teammates had to immediately return to their normal playing routine.
From the feeling of enjoying confetti fireworks, lifting trophies and exploding champagne in the locker room (something previous NBA teams could only do after winning the tournament), the Los Angeles Lakers must return to the Regular Season.
And true to the predictions of some experts, coach Darvin Ham and his team showed signs of lack of concentration in the match against the Dallas Mavericks this morning in Vietnam time.
The Lakers’ defense is no longer as sharp as in the IST finals, where they locked down Tyrese Haliburton and the current No. 1 NBA attack of the Indiana Pacers. On the contrary, the LA team let Luka Doncic and the Dallas team, lacking many key players, shoot 21 3-pointers.
On offense, the Lakers played a not bad game with 53.8% FG and 51.7% 3PT. scored 125 points with 34 out of 49 successful shots assisted. But all could not compensate for the hole in defense and the slow start of LeBron James and the Lakers players.
On the day Seth Curry had to leave the field early due to injury and Kyrie Irving was out from the beginning of the match, Luka Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks with 33 points, especially he had 17 assists .
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 32 points with 5 successful 3-pointers. Another name that is also thrown into the hands of the Dallas side is Grant Williams. The former Boston player had 5-7 3PT and scored 19 points.
Particularly, Australian striker Dante Exum suddenly exploded with 26 points. From the beginning of the season until this match, Exum had only 8 successful 3-pointers in 19 matches. Yet when he appeared on the court this morning against the Lakers, he threw in 7 3-pointers.
As for the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James and Anthony Davis continue to lead. “The King” had 33 points with 9 assists and 8 rebounds along with 3 steals.
Davis had a double-double of 37 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks. The remaining two prominent names, Austin Reaves and Taurean Prince, scored 22 and 15 points respectively.
This result caused the Lakers to have their 10th loss this season, achieving a total record of 14-10 and temporarily ranked 6th in the Western rankings. This is the LA team’s second consecutive close loss to the Dallas Mavericks, last time they were defeated by Kyrie Irving’s “fatal” 3-pointer.=
The yellow and purple team will have the opportunity to regain the feeling of victory tomorrow (December 14) when facing the San Antonio Spurs, the second match in a series of 3 consecutive matches away from home.
