DALLAS — If you never looked at the scoreboard once on Tuesday night, the Lakers’ faces would have said it all.
Russell Westbrook shaking his head after every timeout. Carmelo Anthony grimacing as he bounced a ball hard off the court after another Dallas Mavericks basket. Coach Frank Vogel’s deep sighs as he paced the court.
Perhaps most telling of all was General Manager Rob Pelinka, whose face was sullen and somber as he surveyed a damning performance by the cast he brought in to surround LeBron James and Anthony Davis – two absent stars from the latest disaster.
In this forlorn season, it’s actually saying something to note the Lakers might have played their worst game of the year. Without James or Davis, the Lakers (31-44) couldn’t touch the Mavericks and especially superstar Luka Doncic, who manipulated their defense like a child’s plaything.
The final score was 128-110, but the Mavericks led by as much as 37 points – not even the largest deficit of the Lakers’ season. But it still felt like a low point, especially as even the most meager postseason ambitions continue to trickle away from the Lakers.
The Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs are now tied for 10th place in the Western Conference, the final spot in the play-in tournament. But the Spurs own a tiebreaker by virtue of their better division and conference record. With seven games left for each team, the Lakers need to finish with a better record than the Spurs to make the postseason.
Those hopes were dimmer than ever on Tuesday night as they were outclassed in every meaningful way.
Doncic had a triple-double by early in the third quarter, finishing with 34 points, 12 assists and 12 rebounds. After he torched them with his long-range shooting early (he was 7 for 11 in the first quarter), the Lakers responded by double-teaming him. But the 23-year-old Slovenian wunderkind was unfazed, tearing the Lakers apart by finding his capable shooters.
It only took 12 minutes before the Lakers were already behind by 18 points as Maxi Kleber hit a driving layup before the first-quarter buzzer. The Lakers never recovered.
That didn’t mean they didn’t try new approaches. Dismayed by the listless start, Vogel reached for veterans who haven’t played in weeks, including Trevor Ariza (14 consecutive DNPs) and Kent Bazemore (seven straight DNPs). He quickly went away from starting center Dwight Howard, who played just five minutes.
But no matter the lineup permutations, the Mavericks didn’t really stop finding open 3-pointers. Dallas wound up making 20 3-pointers against a Laker defense that has strained Vogel’s patience all year. Six Mavericks besides Doncic finished with 10 points or more.
Westbrook was the team’s leader insomuch as he was the only one of the Lakers’ “Big Three” who was healthy. He had 25 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but the Lakers were outscored by 25 points during his minutes, and throughout the evening, the frustration was etched onto his face and drawn into life through heavy shakes of his head.
Malik Monk led the Lakers with 28 points.
More to come on this story.