Lakers Injury Report: Mavericks Starter Departs Game For Good In 3rd Quarter

And the Lakers are inching their way back into this.

At the end of the third quarter of your Los Angeles Lakers' ongoing home matchup against the visiting Dallas Mavericks, things looked close to over for LA, with the club trailing 91-71.

But some clutch shotmaking from LeBron James and Austin Reaves early in the fourth quarter has brought the Lakers back within single digits. Los Angeles currently trails 93-87 at the 6:32 mark of the fourth quarter. The Lakers have outscored the Mavericks by a whopping margin of 16-4 during the frame.

LA also got a lucky break in the injury department.

Per Marc Stein, the Mavericks have announced that starting rookie center Dereck Lively II suffered a lower back contusion when he fell badly after botching a dunk try midway through the third period. He has been ruled out for the rest of the night.

In 19:03, the 7'1" former Dukie scored two points on 1-of-3 shooting from the floor, pulled down 10 boards, and dished out three dimes. LA is going ultra-big against the now-smaller Mavs, exploring lineups with Anthony Davis, Jaxson Hayes, and LeBron James. That's an average height of 6'10" between that front court trio.

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