Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers welcomed the Dallas Mavericks to town in an attempt to maintain momentum in the second half of a back-to-back.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis both participated for Los Angeles despite the fact that it was a back-to-back, while Dallas also had its two talents in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving available. In the end, notwithstanding Los Angeles’s comeback attempt, it was the Mavericks who emerged victorious, triumphing 104-101 to lower the Lakers to 9-7 on the season.

Max Christie entered the game in place of Cam Reddish, who was sidelined by adductor pain. Christie assisted Los Angeles in gaining the lead with a three-pointer. Early on, however, the Lakers missed a number of uncontested layup opportunities, and Grant Williams and Kyrie Irving each made consecutive three-pointers to give Dallas an early 10-5 lead.

In the end, the Lakers responded with five consecutive points to tie the game, and Taurean Prince’s corner 3-pointer was encouraging in light of his recent struggles.

As the first Lakers substitute off the bench, Rui Hachimura got off to a fast start with five consecutive points, although Doncic responded with five straight for Dallas. Although the score remained close for the duration of the first quarter, the Mavericks ultimately held a 29-25 advantage heading into the second.

James’s two turnovers in the opening minutes of the second quarter contributed to the Lakers’ sloppiness, which gave the Mavericks a double-digit lead.

Los Angeles struggled to defend the 3-point line for the majority of the second quarter, as Dallas was on fire. However, Davis was contributing to the comeback effort by making some clutch baskets from low range in order to prevent the game from slipping away.

However, the Lakers failed to generate much offense in the final half and entered the locker room down 62-46.

For the Lakers to regain momentum, they required a run to occur in the third quarter. Despite the initial dominance of Doncic and Irving, the Lakers gradually gained ground in the fourth quarter as D’Angelo Russell initiated the offense following a lackluster first half.

As James and Davis struggled to generate offense and the Lakers continued to commit foolish turnovers, they were unable to make up much ground. With another corner triple emptied by Irving, the Mavericks entered the fourth quarter up 91-71.

James attempted to rally the Lakers with a three-point play and a triple, and Austin Reaves also buried one, bringing the deficit back to 13 points in a hurry. Despite forcing a timeout by the Dallas Cowboys, Reaves scored four consecutive points to reduce the Mavericks’ lead to single digits.

The floodgates began to open for the Lakers at that point, as both James and Prince made deep 3-pointers, followed by LeBron James laying up a layup to reduce the deficit to three.

Doncic and Irving undoubtedly contributed to the Mavericks regaining the lead with consecutive baskets that increased it to seven.

Despite this, the Lakers persisted in their struggle, accumulating five quick points in order to compel Dallas to take another timeout. In the final two minutes of play, Reaves tied the game at 99 by hitting an additional floater.

However, the run did not end there; James deflected in a basket following a second stop, giving the Lakers their first lead of the evening. In the final seconds, however, Irving buried a three-pointer and the Mavericks regained the lead by one.

After James reversed the ball in an attempt to locate Davis, Irving completed a brace at the line. James missed the basket with 2.8 seconds remaining and the Lakers trailed by three points; the error resulted in the loss.