The Los Angeles Lakers, understandably, were cool with letting Dante Exum shoot. Unfortunately, the Dallas Mavericks guard was hotter than ever.
Exum, starting in place of the injured Kyrie Irving, entered Tuesday's game 8-for-28 on the season from 3-point range. Repeatedly left wide open, Exum made the Lakers pay seven times in nine attempts on his way to 26 points in 36 minutes. His final bucket — a corner-pocket snipe to put Dallas up by six with 52.1 seconds to go — was a fitting culmination of his out-of-body experience.
“You have a gameplan, you live with the results,” said LeBron James. “Dante had a career night from the 3-point line, and you tip your hat.”
The Lakers consistently abandoned Exum to trap Luka Doncic, who finished with 33 points on 28 field-goal attempts but took advantage of the collapsing defense in the form of 17 assists. Tim Hardaway Jr. added 32 points off the bench.
Lakers' plan vs. Mavs
“In an attempt to put extra bodies on Luka, you just decide who you're going to play a little bit heavier off of,” said Darvin Ham. “These guys are pros … (the) numbers told us that Dante could be a heavy shift guy. But he's a pro. He's a helluva player. Tonight was his night. It's a make-or-miss league. He happened to make them.”
"I did not expect that pass to come…"
Dante Exum on the Luka wraparound dime 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/vWmxytlKvc
— NBA (@NBA) December 13, 2023
“Anytime you play a guy like Luka that's so talented, so good passing the ball, but obviously scores it as well, it makes it tough,” said Austin Reaves, who had 22 points. “That's the challenge when you have a guy like that on the other team that you're trying to slow down. And Exum, you got to tip your hat to him. Coming into the game, we knew he hadn't shot the ball well from 3 and tonight he hits seven of them. So, you tip your hat and you move forward.”
The Lakers' rare non-In-Season-Tournament hot shooting night — 15-0f-29 from 3, including 5-of-6 from Taurean Prince — was almost entirely negated by Exum and Grant Williams (5-for-7).
“It's amazing,” Ham said about the long-range production from Doncic, Exum and Williams. “17 out of 26, that's a ton. And all the while trying to deal with Luka.”
Despite Dallas' deadeyes, the Lakers (14-10) — who hadn't lost since Nov. 30 — still had a chance to overcome a sloppy first half and steal a road win. In the end, Ham was pleased with his team's resiliency coming off the success in Las Vegas.
“What we can control is not allowing them to get 12 free throw attempts in the first quarter and 24 points off our 15 turnovers,” said the Lakers' head coach. “At the end of the day, they got up to a couple of double-digit leads. We could've folded the tent but we kept fighting all the way til the end. … It's encouraging.”
Davis pushed through a tweaked hip to put in 37 points (15-for-21 FG) and 11 rebounds. LeBron, in 40 minutes, finished with 33 points (14-for-27 FG), nine assists, and eight rebounds. Both stars will determine their status for the second leg of the road back-to-back, against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, on Wednesday.
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