Five takeaways from the Lakers’ 101-89 loss to the Dallas Mavericks
The Lakers blew a double-digit lead for the third time in six games Thursday night and suffered a demoralizing loss to one of the NBA’s worst teams. Here are five things we learned from their 101-89 loss to the Dallas Mavericks:
1. First-year Coach Luke Walton’s patience is wearing thin. The Lakers have lost 14 of 16 games in December, blowing 19-point leads in consecutive games at Charlotte and Miami on Dec. 20 and 22 and turning an 11-point second-quarter lead into a 16-point deficit with 3 1/2 minutes to play Thursday night.
Asked if the Lakers were outworked during a third quarter in which they were outscored, 31-13, Walton said, “Um, I think so.” He said his team “didn’t come out ready to put pressure” on the Mavericks in the third quarter. He said he was “expecting a little more fight when we started the second half, but I was wrong.”
Walton’s frustrations were reflected in the locker room, where the dejection of a young Lakers team that opened the season with a 10-10 record and is now 12-24 was palpable.
“We gotta do something, because at this rate, we’re just going to be another losing team,” guard Nick Young said. “We have to figure it out, or we’re gonna be the doormat Lakers again.”
2. The Lakers need to do a better job of playing the hot hand. Young hit four three-point shots in the first nine minutes of the game Thursday night and didn’t take another shot — a made three-pointer — until the 9-minute, 26-second mark of the third quarter, a span of about 17 minutes. Over his last seven games, Young is 29 of 54 (53.7%) from three-point range.
Did Dallas clamp down on Young, or did the Lakers get away from the game plan? “They just got us out of the game plan,” Young said. “It was tough. We got outside of ourselves in the second half. That’s how they won.”
Young said the Lakers “had too many mental lapses in the second half.” Asked for an example, he said, “We just forget what we’re doing out there, what got us the lead … how we play … it’s bad.”
3. Defense has been a problem all season, but the offense has endured far too many lulls like it did in the second half Thursday night, when there is little crisp ball movement, too many unforced errors and too many low-percentage shots.
The Lakers made five of 17 shots and had five turnovers in the third quarter and finished with only 15 assists in the game. Praised for their intensity and effort for most of the first 1 1/2 months of the season, the Lakers didn’t put up much of a fight in the second half Thursday night.
“It felt like they were just blowing us out, and it was still only a 9-10-11 point game with a whole quarter to play, which is more than enough time to make a run at home if you can make some layups and get the crowd back into it,” Walton said.
“We kept trying to get it back all in one play. Defenses in this league, they load up, and it’s tough to get it done that way. It’s definitely not the way I want us to play, the way we did in the second half.”
4. Thomas Robinson, a strong and physical 6-foot-10, 237-pound reserve forward, has taken full advantage of the increased playing time afforded him by Larry Nance Jr.’s knee injury.
Robinson made four of five field-goal attempts for eight points and had a team-leading 10 rebounds in 10 minutes off the bench Thursday night. Over the last five games, Robinson is averaging 9.0 rebounds and 7.4 points per game on 73.9% shooting (17 of 23).
Robinson’s one-hand, follow-shot off the glass in the first quarter and his driving layup on a pick-and-roll pass from Lou Williams in the second helped the Lakers build an 11-point lead.
5. The dysfunction the Lakers often displayed in Kobe Bryant’s final season, when the aging superstar tried to carry the offense while his young teammates stood around and watched, has crept into this year’s group at times. The second half Thursday night looked like many of those games from 2015-16.
“We got outside of ourselves,” Young said. “We weren’t looking to pass the ball. There were a lot of one-on-ones in the second half. The fans deserve a better effort, better play.”
Twitter: @MikeDiGiovanna
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