Dallas Basketball

'Taking the Crown': Luka Tops LeBron, Mavs Take Down Feisty Lakers

LeBron James has been the 'king' of the NBA for nearly two decades, but after Luka Doncic's Dallas Mavericks defeated the struggling Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night, perhaps it's time for James to pass the crown to the young player he admires most.

Dalton Trigg

The Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers came into Tuesday night's head-to-head matchup on two different trajectories and feeling polar-opposite emotions. The Mavs were coming off a resounding 107-101 win over the Golden State Warriors in a game where they trailed by 19 points with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth. The Lakers, on the other hand, got booed off their own home court after an embarrassing 123-95 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Not surprisingly, both teams' fortunes stayed the course as the Mavs took down the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena, 109-104, although it wasn't as lopsided as throughout as many thought it would be due to a poor Mavs' third quarter.

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Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Just a day after turning 23 years old, Luka Doncic led the Mavs down the stretch and finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Although the way the Mavs ended the game is what Doncic cares about most, his monster put-back dunk over Dwight Howard in the first quarter should at least take second place.

"He's more athletic that you think," said Spencer Dinwiddie, who had yet another good game after scoring 24 points on Sunday. "I didn't think he was going to do it. ... I think he was just mad. ... When you have the best player on the court every night, you have a chance to win basketball games."

Dallas led by as many as 21 points in this one before imploding by getting out-scored 31-14 in the third quarter. The Mavs had more turnovers (seven) than they did made field goals (six) in the frame. The heroics of Doncic kept the Lakers at bay, though, as he hit big shot after big shot in the fourth quarter with most of them being against LeBron James.

Doncic got a lot of extra help against the Lakers, as four other players scored in double figures. Jalen Brunson broke out of his shooting slump by pouring in 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from deep. Dorian Finney-Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie and Dwight Powell pitched in with 16, 14 and 13 points of their own, respectively.

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James, who finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, has been the 'king' of the NBA for nearly two decades now. Although LeBron might not be quite ready to pass the crown to another player yet, Doncic seems poised to take it anyway, as he 'hunted' James on defense in the fourth and succeeded when the game was on the line. Doncic being his successor seems like the most natural move given both players' admiration for each other.

“The way (Luka) plays the game reminds me of the way I play the game," James said during the All-Star break. "We’re triple threats. We rebound, we pass, which is the number one thing on our mind. … and we’ll put 40 on you too if you disrespect us.”

It's been well-documented how Doncic grew up idolizing James and modeling some of his game after him. Tonight's game will surely be one he'll remember for a long time to come. The Mavs now move to 37-25 and are 12 games over .500 for the first time this season.

Next up, the Mavs will return home to American Airlines Center for the first time since February 12 when they take on the second-place Golden State Warriors for the second time in three games. With another win, Dallas will win the season series vs. Golden State 3-1.

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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