Dallas Mavericks face Luka Doncic for first time since trading star to the Los Angeles Lakers

LOS ANGELES – After their front offices put on a show at the National Basketball Association (NBA) trade deadline, the visiting Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers will try to rise to the occasion on the court on Feb 25 (Feb 26, Singapore time) and settle their differences.

Their league-shaking trade that leaked late on Feb 1 made Luka Doncic the Lakers’ star of the future, while Anthony Davis went the other way to help with the Mavericks’ immediate play-off goals.

Yet only half of the trade’s major components will be on the court.

As Doncic continues to improve his form with the Lakers following a calf injury, Davis is out for the time being with a left adductor strain.

Continuing to put his calf strain in the past, Doncic had his best game as a Laker in a convincing 123-100 road victory against the Denver Nuggets on Feb 22. The 25-year-old had a team-high 32 points and added 10 rebounds.

“You can see it, me smiling on the court, having fun,” the Slovenian told reporters after the win over the Nuggets, while admitting there has been an obvious adjustment period.

LeBron James was impressed with Doncic’s improved play.

“He was very locked in on what he wanted to do out (there),” the Lakers star said.

“He was just dialled in on what he wanted to do and how he wanted to execute his game plan individually.”

While Doncic has averaged 19 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists in a Lakers uniform, James has averaged 28.7 points with 8.9 rebounds and 7.4 assists in seven games since the deal was announced.

Los Angeles guard Austin Reaves, meanwhile, continues to flourish with 23.9 points, 6.3 assists and 4.7 rebounds in nine games in February.

Davis made Mavericks fans feel somewhat more comfortable about the unpopular trade when the 31-year-old scored 26 points with 16 rebounds on his Mavericks debut on Feb 8.

But he left that game early with a recurrence of an abdominal injury and has not played in the five games since.

After winning their last two games before the All-Star break, the Mavericks have gone 1-1 after returning to action, including a 126-102 road loss to the Golden State Warriors on Feb 23.

P.J. Washington and Kyrie Irving each scored 17 points in the loss, while Dallas were outrebounded 54-41 and committed 18 turnovers.

Now, the Mavericks face the Lakers, whose 15 steals against the Nuggets were a season high. Along with taking care of the ball, Dallas must turn their attention towards stopping a motivated Doncic.

“Outside of just the obvious of us being in LA and (the Mavericks) being a former team of Luka’s, obviously the narrative is already written,” Irving said.

“I don’t know what else I can really add to that. I’m pretty much focused and telling my guys just to focus on a high-level game that we got to win.”

Washington added: “It’s Luka and we know how good he is. He’s tough to contain, tough to slow down.

“But we’re just going to have to go out there and give it our best shot and, hopefully, we’ll come out with a W (in Los Angeles).”

Meanwhile, in NBA action on Feb 24, Anthony Edwards came up with a block in the closing seconds of overtime to help lift the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves to a 131-128 overtime road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Western Conference leaders Oklahoma City missed nine straight shots to close the fourth quarter, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missing a driving lay-up as time expired.

In overtime, after Naz Reid made two free throws to put the Timberwolves on top 129-128 with 23 seconds left, the Thunder put the ball in Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands coming out of a timeout. But Edwards came over to block his shot.

Terrence Shannon Jr grabbed the rebound and Nickeil Alexander-Walker – Gilgeous-Alexander’s cousin – then made a pair of free throws for the Timberwolves.

Edwards matched up with Gilgeous-Alexander once more in the closing seconds, forcing a missed three-pointer to end the game.
REUTERS