Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks dodged a bullet on Thursday as they hosted the Los Angeles Lakers. The Mavs controlled from the opening tip, but couldn't really take shake the defending champions off completely as the Lakers kept coming at the Mavs until the final buzzer. In the end, Doncic's team kept their composure and escaped with an important 115-110 win over LA.

“We got to play hard every game,” Doncic said after another impressive performance (via Callie Caplan of Dallas News). “We need to take very seriously every game. Sometimes we play like we relax too much.”

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The Mavs definitely took things seriously as they kept the Lakers at bay all evening. Doncic was his usual stellar self and dropped 30 points alongside nine rebounds and eight assists to help Dallas win the first game of a back-to-back set against the reigning champs.

In the third quarter, things were starting to turn for the worse for the Mavs as they lost their starting big man Kristaps Porzingis to an ankle injury as the Lakers were trying to claw their way back. But, as Doncic pointed out, the home squad played hard and held the fort up until the very end.

Now more than ever, Doncic knows that his team has to completely lock in and get all the wins they can get in the home stretch of the 2020-21 regular season. The Mavs are still clinging on to the 7th spot but a few more wins could help propel them all the way to 6th or even 5th, which would help them avoid having to go though the play-in tournament at the end of the regular season.