Los Angeles Lakers vs Dallas Mavericks recap: Luka Doncic scores 45 points in victory versus Anthony Davis, former team

Mavericks fans wanted to show Luka Doncic how much they loved him. They did that.

Luka Doncic wanted to show them what they are missing and to get a much-needed win for his team. He did that. Doncic scored 45 points — 31 in the first half — and behind some fourth quarter help from Lebron James he got the win, 112-97.

This was a huge win for the Lakers: If they can beat Houston (who has nothing to play for) or Portland in one of their final two games, Los Angeles secures the No. 3 seed. That keeps them on the opposite side of the bracket from Oklahoma City until a possible meeting in the Western Conference Finals.

Doncic finished with 45 points, eight rebounds and six assists. LeBron had 27 points on the night and Rui Hachimura chipped in 15.

Dallas is now all but certain to be the No. 10 seed and have to go on the road to Sacramento in the first round of the Play-In Tournament. Naji Marshal led the Mavericks with 23 points, while P.J. Washington finished with 14.

How?

How does Doncic not travel? And how does he have the english on the ball to get this to fall?

The Lakers lead 110-94 and are pulling away in the final minutes to secure the win.

It’s Luka Doncic’s night but the fourth quarter belongs to LeBron James.

LeBron has 11 points in the fourth, and the Lakers lead is 99-93, with 4:59 remaining. This is not a new thing, LeBron is top five in the league in fourth quarter scoring this season — those 40-year-old legs still have some run in them.

You knew this was coming.

On a night that Luka Doncic has put up 38 points and counting in his return to Dallas, the “Fire Nico” chants directed at Mavericks GM Nico Harrison — who pushed for this trade — are growing louder.

This may be Luka Doncic’s night, but the Mavericks are not going quietly into that good night.

Dallas got three buckets in the paint plus a Klay Thompson lead to start the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run and retake the lead, 85-83. Max Christie is reminding the Lakers what they gave up in the Doncic trade.

Luka Doncic is reminding Dallas fans what their franchise traded away — he has 38 points and has been the best player on the floor.

The Lakers lead by 7, 83-76, heading into the fourth quarter.

One thing to watch: the Lakers’ lead swelled to 13 when they went small, with Dorian Finney-Smith replacing center Jaxson Hayes among the starters. That will be the lineup J.J. Redick goes to when he wants to close this game out.

After a rough start to the second half, the Mavericks settled down, got a few stops, and cut the Lakers’ lead to six, 78-72.

Naji Marshall is up to 23 points and is having himself a night against the Lakers.

The Lakers have opened the second half on a 15-7 run and stretched their lead out to 13, 75-68. A frustrated Jason Kidd called a timeout after some ugly transition defense gave Rui Hachimura an easy bucket under the rim.

Dallas started 3-of-8 from the floor in the second half while the Lakers’ offense just keeps on rolling.

After a tight first half, the Lakers opened the second half on a 9-3 run and have created a little space with a 69-60 lead, their largest of the game. It’s the largest lead for either team so far.

Doncic is up to 35 points for the game, while LeBron has broken into double digits with 10.

Luka Doncic went off for 31 points in the first half against his former team in Dallas, which led to this thought about Mavericks GM Nico Harrison, courtesy Michael Pina of The Ringer.

Luka Doncic has been clutch since before he got to the NBA, he has always risen to the big moments dating back to being EuroLeague MVP at 18.

He has risen to the occasion Wednesday night.

Doncic had 31 first-half points against his former team, including shooting 6-of-8 from 3. He has more than half the Lakers’ points in his return to Dallas.

This is still a tight game thanks to Naji Marshall scoring 15 for Dallas and its bench chipping in 22. Jason Kidd can preach at the half that his team can play better — Anthony Davis has just 4 points — and they can still win this.

Austin Reaves and LeBron James each have eight points for the Lakers.

Something might look familiar to regular watchers of Lakers games.

The Lakers picked up a signature win against Denver last month by using a smaller player to defend Nikola Jokic. They fronted him with the smaller defender and then brought help fast from the key or baseline when Jokic got the rock, doubling and trapping him. The idea was to make Jokic a playmaker, not a scorer, which he can do, but the Nuggets are most effective when he can do both.

The Lakers are doing the same thing to Anthony Davis. He is struggling to adjust, has two points on 1-of-4 shooting, and can’t find a rhythm. It’s the other Mavericks who are keeping Dallas in this game. It’s 52-49 Los Angeles with three minutes left in the first half.

Luka Doncic has been the best player on the court with 18 points, but the game remains tight: Lakers 40, Mavericks 40 with 7:23 left in the second quarter.

Naji Marshall leads Dallas with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Dallas is in this because it has 13 points from its bench players, compared to four for Los Angeles. Anthony Davis has struggled, with two points on 1-of-4 shooting.

Luka Doncic is on the bench but the Lakers are still putting on a show.

Check out this alley-oop from Austin Reaves to LeBron James.

Dallas leads the game 40-38, it’s been tight the entire way so far.

It’s early, but the over on Luka Doncic scoring 30.5 points against his former team is looking good.

Doncic came out hot and has 14 points, including hitting 3-of-4 from 3, with 2:25 left in the first quarter.

The score is tied 24-24 with Dereck Lively II and Naji Marshall stepping up early for Dallas with 11 points combined.

We’ve seen the opposite more times than we can count: A player who was traded away gets booed by the jilted fans every time he touches the ball in his return.

In Dallas Wednesday night, it’s the opposite — Luka Doncic is getting cheered every time he touches the rock. It’s making for an odd environment.

Doncic has eight quick points in the first quarter on 3-of-5 shooting.

The Lakers and Mavericks have tipped off — it is 14-11 Mavericks early on, Doncic has a fast seven points.

What got lost in all the hype is that this is an important game for West playoff seeding. The Lakers are the No. 3 seed and can lock up a top-four seed with a win on Wednesday, but their goal should be to stay No. 3 and be on the opposite side of the bracket from the Thunder.

Dallas is the No. 10 seed, one game back of Sacramento for the No. 9 seed and the chance to host the first play-in round.

Both teams need this game.

You could feel how emotional this was for Luka Doncic, who was wiping the tears from his eyes with a towel as he felt the love from the fans.

Doncic was welcomed back to Dallas with a tribute video — highlighting the day he was drafted, the trick shots, and the big game-winning shots — and a huge ovation from the crowd, including his good friend and Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki.

For those looking to make Doncic’s return to Dallas a little more interesting, here are the latest odds, via Bet MGM:

• Lakers -4.5
• Over/under 226.5
• Doncic scoring over/under 30.5
• Doncic assist over/under 8.5
• Anthony Davis scoring over/under 26.5
• LeBron James scoring over/under 23.5

Protest takes many forms.

For some fans in the lower bowl of the American Airlines Center, that protest takes the form of wearing Doncic Lakers jerseys to Mavericks games. They are Doncic fans who want to show their support and make their not-so-subtle statement to Mavericks management.

There will probably be a lot more of them in the arena tonight.

The spin out of Dallas after Luka Doncic had been traded away was that they were concerned about paying him big money because of a lack of professionalism and commitment to conditioning, and that he has a “taste for beer and hookah.” Dallas GM Nico Harrison, who had worked closely with Kobe Bryant, was known to be frustrated with Doncic’s conditioning and off-the-court habits.

Doncic took exception to those leaked comments, speaking to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times.

“They have no idea… I didn’t end up here by mistake. You know? I worked my ass off to be here. So it’s kinda, I would say, disrespectful, just sad that people say that.”

Doncic didn’t become one of the best players in the world without putting in a lot of work on his conditioning and game. Interestingly, the Lakers have tailored their workouts for Doncic to be competitions, not just drills. He has looked in better shape of late, although much of that is likely just due to playing games.

Those comments on conditioning will just fuel the fire for Doncic.

Anthony Davis didn’t ask to be traded. He was critical to the Lakers winning a title in 2020 and was tight with LeBron, but he was the guy Nico Harrison wanted to make the Luka Doncic trade happen, so Davis was sent to Dallas.

No hard feelings? Not from Lakers fans, who cheered him loudly when the teams played in Los Angeles, but Davis was in street clothes for that game due to an adductor strain.

Tonight Davis will be dressed and playing, but he echoed Lakers fans saying he had “no emotion” toward the Lakers and the trade.

It won’t look that way on the court — look for Davis to have a big night against his former team. Davis is averaging 20.6 points and 9.6 rebounds a game as a Maverick (down from his Lakers numbers due to the injuries and no Kyrie Irving, so defenses can focus on him) but the Lakers have no good defensive matchup for him. Don’t be surprised if he puts up some serious numbers on Wednesday.

How much do Mavericks fans miss Luka Doncic? There is a poster for them to sign out in front of the arena, and look at all the signatures on it more than an hour before tip-off.

Nobody in their right mind trades a 25-year-old top-five player in the world who led your team to the NBA Finals less than 12 months before.

Dallas GM Nico Harrison did. He talked about conditioning and culture fits, but the more team governor Patrick Dumont spoke, the more it became clear this was about the money — Doncic was lined up this summer to sign a five-year, $346 million contract extension, the largest deal in NBA history. The Mavericks didn’t want to pay it.

So the Mavericks went looking for a trade — but basically only went looking with the Lakers (there were some preliminary talks with Minnesota about Anthony Edwards, but the Timberwolves were interested). Here are the trade details:

• Lakers receive: Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, Markieff Morris
• Mavericks receive: Anthony Davis, Max Christie, 2029 Lakers first-round pick
• Jazz receive: Jalen Hood-Schifino, 2025 Clippers second-round pick, 2025 Mavericks second-round pick

Dallas should not have fallen off a cliff — this is a terrible long-term trade for the Mavs, but not as bad a short-term one — except Davis strained his adductor (groin) in his first game with the Mavericks and had to sit out for six weeks. Combine that with Kyrie Irving tearing his ACL, and Dallas slid down the standings with a 12-18 record and a bottom-10 offense and defense.

Meanwhile, Doncic is looking more and more like himself and the Lakers have gone 17-12 in games he has played. With each game, they look more like a legitimate threat to win the West.

Tonight’s fan giveaway at the American Airlines Center are T-shirts that say “thank you for everything” in Doncic’s native Slovenian.

That’s not going to heal the bad blood with fans, and it doesn’t have his name on it, but it’s something.

Luka Doncic’s return to Dallas starts at 7:30 Eastern from the American Airlines Center and can be seen on ESPN or streamed on ESPN+ and YouTube TV.