With just over seven minutes left in the second quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers(29-32) on Sunday, the Dallas Mavericks(32-30) took their largest lead of 27 points and were in complete control.
However, the Lakers closed the half strong and cut the lead to 61-47 at the break. Los Angeles would outscore the Mavs 64-47 in the second half and defeat Dallas 111-108 at American Airlines Center.
This season, teams were 0-138 when trailing by 27-plus points, but that changed with the Lakers’ win on Sunday.
Kyrie Irving, who had 21 points, a career-high-tying 11 rebounds, and five assists, says no 20-point lead in the NBA is safe.
“It’s a tale of two halves,” he said. “I think tonight showed it. First half, we were playing incredible, other than the last three minutes of the first half, where I think we came in up 14. We were up 25 or 23 … I’ve been quoted saying this, ‘There is no 20-point lead that is safe in this league anymore,’ just because of pace and style of the game. But for us, I think we showed some great poise in the third quarter. But in that fourth quarter, I have to do a better job of just getting us into some initiated offensive sets and just be aggressive and not kind of force my way into the lane.”
Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said Dallas lost its rhythm and got too caught up with the officials.
“We lost our rhythm in the sense of just playing our game and not worrying about the other elements,” he said. “Our rhythm there in the first two-and-a-half [quarters], we were playing at a high level on both ends offensively and defensively. Then, we just got a little distracted with the whistle. We’ve just got to be better with that.”
Luka Doncic, who had 26 points, nine rebounds, and five assists on Sunday, agreed with Kidd about the team getting distracted by the officials.
“It’s probably true,” he said.
Kidd knows what it takes to win an NBA title; he did it as a player and an assistant. According to Kidd, if the Mavs want to win a championship, he believes the team has to grow up.
“We’ve got to grow up, if we want to win a championship,” Kidd said. “There’s no young team that’s ever won a championship, mentally or physically.”
Dallas was down three with 15 seconds left, and an inbound pass from Irving to Doncic was thrown toward the backcourt, but not knowing the ball could be thrown in the backcourt, Doncic tried to keep the ball in the frontcourt, which caused a turnover. Anthony Davis secured the loose ball for the Lakers, and Dallas was forced to foul.
“I thought Luka needed a little bit more room, so I threw it towards the backcourt because I thought Jarred Vanderbilt did a great job denying him,” Irving said of the play. “I thought he was just going to let it bounce twice and then go grab it, but once I saw him try to save it from halfcourt, I looked at him maybe like a minute later and was like, ‘You know you can go backcourt,’ and he was like, ‘Ah, man. That’s my fault.’”
Doncic added: “That was my bad. I totally forgot you can go backcourt. That was my mistake. That is why I tried to save it.”
Dallas, who has lost four of their last five games, has to execute better late in games, and thus far, Doncic and Irving have struggled together in that area. Fortunately, with 20 games left in the regular season, they have time to fix it.
“I’m glad it’s happening during the season and not during the playoffs,” Kidd said. “When you have those two guys [Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving] out there, it’s about the details. We’ve got to do a better job with the details.”
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