Irving drains huge three-pointer as Mavs rallied to defeat Lakers, 104-101

LOS ANGELES – Although they uncharacteristically blew a 20-point fourth-quarter lead Wednesday night, the Mavericks were once again in clutch mode when the game was on the line.

Trailing the Los Angeles Lakers by two points with the game winding to a close, Kyrie Irving buried a clutch three-point shot which proved to be the difference in the game as the Mavs escaped Crypto.com Arena with a pulsating 104-101 victory.

Irving’s critical basket with 20.8 seconds remaining put the Mavs ahead, 102-101. And after Richaun Holmes stole a pass from LeBron James on the ensuing trip up the court, Irving was fouled and nailed a pair of free throws with 2.3 seconds left to account for the game’s final points.

From there, James misfired on a three-pointer at the buzzer as the Mavs snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 10-5, while the Lakers (9-7) saw their three-game winning streak disappear.

Afterwards, Mavs coach Jason Kidd wasn’t about to worry about style points when a Los Angeles reporter asked him if he was upset that the game got too close for comfort down the stretch.

“Why would you be upset? You won,” Kidd said. “The game’s over. Now we move on to get ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow, and again have practice on Friday.

“There’s no one upset. This was a great game against a very talented team.”

The Mavs will play another very talented team on Saturday when they battle the Los Angeles Clippers in this very same building before returning home to host Houston on Tuesday.

A tip-in by James finished off a furious 30-8 run by the Lakers and put them ahead, 101-99, with 1:16 remaining after they trailed, 91-71, entering the fourth quarter. Such a run could have shell-shocked some teams.

But the Mavs, who are now 7-1 this season in clutch games and committed a season-low four turnovers, put their big boy pants on and went right back at the Lakers and emerged with a huge victory. And those five points in the waning moments from Irving – he had 28 points, six rebounds and two steals – silenced the sellout crowd of 18,997.

“The Lakers are a great team,” said Luka Doncic, who collected 30 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and two steals. “They have great players, so they’re able to do this.

“We were down two there. Everybody kept together, and then we won the game.”

It was a game that proved costly as Mavs rookie center Dereck Lively II fell hard on the floor less than five minutes into the second half and was eventually helped to the locker room by two of his teammates when he clearly had problems walking.

Lively was diagnosed with a low back contusion and did not return. However, Holmes finished the game with four points, a season-high 10 rebounds and really helped bottle things up inside the paint in producing details that don’t necessarily appear in the stat sheet.

“I thought he played great for us on both ends, offensively and defensively,” Kidd said, referring to Holmes. “We were going with him instead of (Dwight Powell) tonight and I thought he responded in a positive way. He really helped us win this game tonight.

“He gave us great looks on the offensive end — being able to screen to help the ballhandlers get layups. And then I thought his defense was really good.”

Despite allowing 30 points in the fourth quarter, the Mavs played stout defense during the opening three quarters. In fact, the Mavs came into this game disturbed because they had allowed at least 117 points in seven consecutive games, including giving up at least 124 points in six of those games.

But the 101 points the Lakers scored are the fewest the Mavs have given up in a game this season and tied for the second-lowest points the Lakers have scored this season.

Kidd said seven seconds into the game, when Grant Williams delivered a hard foul to James, was pivotal and sent a stern message to the Lakers that this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.

“It was a lot of carry over from yesterday,” Kidd said. “We had a great practice yesterday. I thought the tone was set right off the bat with Grant fouling on LeBron – the physicality. We talked about it and we showed it right off the bat.

“And then also taking care of the ball. When you’re taking care of the ball against a team like the Lakers, you get a look and that helps put you in a position to be successful. And if you’re making them, that’s what helped us grow that lead up to 20.”

Irving tallied seven of his points in the first quarter, which ended with the Mavs nursing a 29-25 lead. That includes a high arching left-handed shot that Irving kissed off the glass.

Three-pointers apiece by Williams, Irving, Tim Hardaway and Doncic staked the Mavs to a 21-19 lead with 3:17 remaining in the first quarter. The triple by Doncic came right after he zoomed past a pair of Laker defenders for a basket.

Josh Green powered his way to seven points early in the second quarter, and another three-pointer by Doncic padded the Mavs’ lead to 45-33 with 8:38 left before halftime. Back-to-back buckets by Dante Exum also keyed that rally.

Doncic nailed a three-pointer, and Derrick Jones Jr. followed with a triple, and the Mavs suddenly found themselves owning 48-33 cushion midway through the second quarter. Hardaway’s three-pointer, hoops from Irving and Doncic, and another bucket by Doncic sent the Mavs to the halftime dressing room with a comfortable 62-46 lead.

“We were pushing the ball,” said Green, who wound up with 15 points on 6-of-10 shots. “There’s not a lot of times that I run out of gas.

“I’m looking at Luka like, ‘Man, you must be running on a treadmill or something.’ We put a big emphasis on pushing the pace and I think that allowed us to get out to a bigger lead.”

Although the lead eventually vanished, the Mavs regained the lead, but had to watch James fire up a three-pointer at the buzzer which he launched right in front of the Mavs’ bench. Kidd said he thought James “was going to make it. That’s what he does. But we got lucky he came up short.”

James finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, Austin Reaves had 17 points, six rebounds and six assists, D’Angelo Russell scored 15 points, and Anthony Davis collected 14 rebounds, but scored just 10 points on 4-of-10 shots against the Mavs’ smothering defense.

“I think we were playing very, very good defense for three quarters,” Doncic said. “We relaxed a little bit in the fourth, but for three quarters we were playing great defense.

“A win is a win, especially on the road against the Lakers. It’s a tough win. But like I say, a win is a win.”

X: @DwainPrice