Everything had to go right for the Lakers down the stretch to beat the Mavericks. With Dallas going on a 6-0 run to start the fourth, LA was down by 14 with just under 10 minutes left.
The comeback that followed as the Lakers beat Dallas 116-110 was improbable given the flow of the game. But they didn’t do it by being offensively overwhelming the Mavericks. Instead, they grinded out the win.
Marcus Smart was hustling hard, doing everything he could to help the Lakers, including popping his dislocated finger back in place. Rui Hachimura was hitting clutch baskets to get the scoring going, and Luka Dončić was relying on his defense, not his offense, to help turn the tables on his former team.
After the victory, Lakers head coach JJ Redick talked about how Luka’s defensive commitment was a factor in the game.
“I thought he did a great job containing the basketball, being physical with his first bump outside the bump,” Redick said. “That was part of it and then the back side with our shifts and our low man and our gang rebound mentality down the stretch allowed us to get stops.”
It’s no secret that Luka is considered a poor defender. And with the Lakers being a switch-heavy defense, teams can easily target him and look to exploit his flaws.
In the fourth quarter, the Mavs tried to do just that, but Luka more than held his own. Here is a breakdown of the defensive battles he won in that quarter.
Luka might never be an elite defender, but he just needs to use his size and instinct to disrupt and discourage teams from attacking him. In Saturday’s game, he demonstrated that he can do this.
Steph Curry has already proven it can be done. As his career progressed, he took pride in getting stops late. While Curry would still get picked on from time to time, it became less of a concern as he improved his defense.
There’s still a long way to go for Luka to get to the point where teams no longer wish to target him relentlessly in close games. But hopefully, a game like this gives Luka the confidence and desire to reach this level more consistently.