Basketball: Lakers rally from 27 down to dispatch Mavericks
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Anthony Davis (centre) and teammate LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers (left) en route to a 111-108 win on Sunday.
PHOTO: AFP
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DALLAS – The Los Angeles Lakers erased a 27-point deficit to grab a much-needed 111-108 National Basketball Association (NBA) victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, with coach Darvin Ham calling it “a huge shot in the arm”.
Ham said of his team’s biggest comeback win of the season: “The way we were able to continue to scratch, claw, fight, compete. There were some tough, depressing moments in that first half as they were building their lead. The guys never got discouraged. They had that look of frustration, but it wasn’t a look of defeatedness.”
Anthony Davis scored 30 points and pulled down 15 rebounds for the Lakers, who have won three straight as they try to claw their way into a play-off position.
LeBron James added 26 points and Jarred Vanderbilt scored 15 points with 17 rebounds and four steals in an impressive display that included strong defence on Mavericks star Luka Doncic.
The Lakers were in full flight in the third quarter when James went down hard, clutching his right ankle and heel in pain, and saying he heard something “pop”.
He stayed in the game, draining a three-pointer to tie it up early in the fourth and making the basket to give them their first lead since early in the first quarter.
James said he would monitor his ankle, but he never considered leaving the game with the Lakers on the upswing.
“I thought we could steal one,” he said at the American Airlines Centre.
Davis grabbed the rebound off a Vanderbilt miss and made a put-back dunk to stretch the lead with two minutes to play and the Lakers held on for the win.
Doncic scored 26 points, but 14 of those came in the first quarter. Kyrie Irving scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Mavericks, but could not assert himself in the final period.
Said Dallas coach Jason Kidd: ‘’We have to grow up if we want to win a championship. What the Lakers just showed us is it’s not the rabbit that wins; it’s the turtle. And they worked the game. And that’s what we have to get better at.”
Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, Jrue Holiday scored 33 points to help the Bucks shake off the absence of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo in a 104-101 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
The Sunday matinee was mising star power as Antetokounmpo sat out with a quadriceps contusion and Kevin Durant’s Suns debut remained on hold as he continues his recovery from a knee injury.
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer singled out Holiday’s defensive effort, which included a late steal to rob the Suns’ Devin Booker.
“His hands are phenomenal, his competitiveness is at a high, high level, and he’s got a knack for getting deflections and steals at meaningful moments – and that’s what winners do,” Budenholzer said.
The clash between the 2021 NBA finalists offered plenty of drama as the Bucks erased a seven-point deficit with 5min 47sec left in the fourth quarter to extend their league-best, 14-game winning streak. AFP
