Dallas Mavs Thanksgiving Leftovers: 3 Key Stats from Last-Second Win Over LeBron James' Los Angeles Lakers

The Dallas Mavericks pulled out a 104-101 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday despite giving up a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter. DallasBasketball.com identifies three of the biggest stats that paint the full picture of the Mavs' win.

The Dallas Mavericks are spending Thanksgiving in Hollywood, and they already had a pre-Thanksgiving meal by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in clutch fashion on Wednesday night. But like with every great Thanksgiving feast, there are leftovers to be had later, and today, DallasBasketball.com brings you three key stats from the Mavs' thrilling win over the Lakers that are ready to be reheated.

The Mavs shot 39.6 percent from the field ... and still won. It was by far Dallas' worst shooting performance of the season, and yet, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic made several big plays in the closing minutes of the game to help the Mavs secure the 104-101 win – their 10th in 15 games to start this season.

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A big reason for the Mavs' shooting percentage dropping under 40 percent was the cold streak they experienced to start the fourth quarter. After having a 91-71 lead when the final frame began, Dallas only scored two points in a span of six minutes. Meanwhile, LeBron James, who continues to defy Father Time and leads the league in fourth-quarter scoring, spearheaded the Lakers' comeback attempt with 26 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

Being on a second night of a back-to-back, the Lakers tried to muck things up for the Mavs on offense, and they succeeded before Irving put Dallas up for good with a clutch 3-pointer with 21 seconds remaining. After Irving tacked on two more free throws, James missed a game-tying attempt from deep at the buzzer, and that was that.

Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving shoots over Los Angeles Lakers' Anthony Davis.
Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving shoots over Los Angeles Lakers' Anthony Davis

Irving was, by far, the best Mavs starter on Wednesday, being a +14 in the boxscore plus/minus in 35 minutes. Although Doncic finished with 30 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and two steals on the night, he was a -11 for the game, and the only other positive starter aside from Irving was Dereck Lively II, who was a +1 in 19 minutes before leaving the game in the third quarter with a back contusion.

Irving finished with 28 points on 11-22 shooting from the field, 4-8 from deep and 2-2 from the free-throw line. On top of scoring the Mavs' final five points when they were down 101-99, the eight-time All-Star also grabbed six rebounds and two steals on the night. After starting the season off slow by his standards, Irving is now averaging 24.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game while shooting 47.6 percent overall and 39.5 percent from deep.

"Resilience and no fear attitude," Irving said in his postgame interview. "We knew that we had them against the ropes. We should have won by a little bit more, but they're a great team, and you have to give them credit.

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In 23 minutes as the first reserve big off the bench against the Lakers, Richaun Holmes (10 rebounds) doubled Dwight Powell's rebounding total over his last four games (five rebounds). Jason Kidd made the decision to give Holmes an early opportunity, and it ended up working out great for Dallas, as Holmes finished with four points to go with his 10 rebounds and one block. He also helped hold Anthony Davis to just 10 points on 4-10 shooting on the night.

"We talked about that in the locker room, I thought [Holmes] played great for us on both ends, both offensively and defensively," Kidd said. "Again, we were going with him instead of [Powell] tonight, and I thought he responded in a positive way. He helped, he really helped us win this game tonight."

Lively claims to be fine after sustaining his back contusion, but we should find out more about his status after Friday's practice. If the rookie big man has to miss time, Holmes appears to be in the driver's seat to be the fill-in starter at center going forward.



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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.