LeBron James did all he could for the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough to overcome Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks. The shorthanded Lakers suffered their second straight loss, falling to the Mavs on the road, 134-128.
James went off in this one, putting up a team-high 30 points on 12-of-22 shooting. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer also added nine rebounds, 15 assists, a steal and one three-pointer in 39 minutes of action.
James’ heroics still weren’t enough, though. With Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves both out with respective injuries, the James-led Lakers just didn’t have enough in the tank.
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L.A. had no answer to Cooper Flagg. The Mavs rookie turned in another incredible performance, dropping 46 points, eight rebounds and nine assists in the win. This comes after Flagg’s 51-point career-high explosion on Friday against the Orlando Magic.
The Mavs took full advantage of the Lakers’ undermanned roster. On Friday, it was reported that Doncic is done for the regular season after being diagnosed with a Grade 2 hamstring strain. The following day, the Lakers learned that Reaves will also miss significant time with a Grade 2 oblique injury.
James shared his thoughts on this unfortunate turn of events for the Lakers.
“It was a shot to the heart, obviously, and to the chest and to the mainframe with Luka. But we kind of got that news kind of quick,” James said. “[Reaves] was kind of dealing with the pain in OKC. … We knew he was going to get an MRI. But yeah, I woke up from my nap and saw that news, and I was like, ‘[expletive .]’”
James immediately knew the Lakers were in deep trouble the moment he learned about Reaves’ injury, and his reaction says it all.
James responded with a big game on Sunday, but it still wasn’t enough to carry the Lakers. He will need to do it all over again on Tuesday in a tough matchup against the defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
