Luka Doncic made an impressive comeback in his first game against the Dallas Mavericks after the blockbuster trade. The Slovenian superstar led his Los Angeles Lakers to a hard-fought 107-99 home victory against his former team. He managed a triple-double in the process.
It was clear in advance that this game would be much more than just an ordinary game for Doncic. Just a few weeks ago, the trade that sent him to Los Angeles and Anthony Davis to Dallas made headlines. Now he was facing his former team – and delivered.
Right at the start of the game, Doncic repeatedly sought out one-on-one duels with his former teammates. Particularly striking was the way he kept glancing at the Mavericks bench after every successful move. It was obvious that he wanted to make a statement.
In addition to his strong statistics, Doncic provided the highlight of the evening in the second quarter. With a no-look pass over the back of his own head, he set up Austin Reaves, who completed the attack with a three. The Crypto.com Arena went wild as “MVP” chants echoed through the arena.
LeBron James backed Doncic, who put up 19 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists himself, with a strong performance and scored 27 points and 12 rebounds. Reaves also played a crucial role and drained some important shots for the Lakers.
Kyrie Irving keeps Dallas in the game
The Mavericks started the game weaker and trailed 20:28 after the first quarter. Led by Kyrie Irving (35 points), however, Dallas fought its way back into the game. Particularly in the third quarter, the visitors managed to crack the Lakers’ defense several times and reduce the deficit to just one point.
The final quarter saw an open exchange of blows, but in the decisive phase, the Lakers had the better answers. Doncic and LeBron took command in crunch time and ensured that Dallas could no longer catch up.
