Lakers chase bounce-back vs. slumping Mavericks

Lakers chase bounce-back vs. slumping Mavericks

After taking the court with a skeleton crew on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Lakers will aim to assemble a more competitive lineup when they host the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Mavericks will be without rookie star Cooper Flagg when the teams play their final game before the All-Star break.

The Lakers were essentially missing all of their starters in a 136-108 home loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Luka Doncic (hamstring), LeBron James (foot), Austin Reaves (calf), Deandre Ayton (knee) and Marcus Smart (ankle) were all missing in action on the second night of a back-to-back.

Doncic, who has been named a starter for Sunday's All-Star Game, missed his third consecutive contest. His availability for a game against his former team remains to be seen.

The Lakers turned to a starting five of Jake LaRavia, Rui Hachimura, Jaxson Hayes, Luke Kennard and Kobe Bufkin. That group trailed 14-4 in less than three minutes and was down 47-30 after one quarter. The 84 points Los Angeles allowed in the first half were the most in any half in franchise history.

"Not a lot to take away other than, you know, we suck at defense," Lakers coach JJ Redick said.

Bronny James played 25 minutes off the bench for the Lakers and scored a season-high 12 points.

"It's just good to get out there and take advantage of the minutes I get," said Bronny James, who played his most minutes in a game this season and third most in his two seasons in the NBA.

Before losing their last two games, the Lakers were on a 6-2 run that started Jan. 24 with a 116-110 victory at Dallas. Doncic had 33 points for Los Angeles in the victory, while former Laker Max Christie had 24 for Dallas.

That loss triggered the Mavericks' current eight-game losing streak. Making matters worse for Dallas is that Flagg has a left midfoot sprain that will sideline him on Thursday and also will keep him out of the Rising Stars game on Friday during the All-Star weekend in Inglewood, Calif.

Dallas' most recent defeat occurred Tuesday at Phoenix, where Naji Marshall scored 31 points and Flagg added 27 in a 120-111 loss.

The Mavericks are on their longest losing streak since the 2016-17 season.

"We got off to a slow start," Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. "They were physical and we weren't in that first half. I thought the group did a better job in that second half. Getting to the free throw line 44 times (but) we gotta be able to produce more 3s. We just didn't do that."

Dallas was 5 of 22 (22.7%) from 3-point range, while Phoenix was 16 of 50 (32%). The Mavericks also gave up 18 offensive rebounds, which helped the Suns take 102 total shots from the floor, while shooting 48%.

Flagg went 11 of 14 from the free-throw line, his second most in both categories during his stellar rookie season.

"I was aggressive," Flagg said. "Getting downhill to my spots, trying to play with physicality and I was rewarded with getting to the free-throw line. I thought that was good."

The Lakers are 2-0 against the Mavericks this season with the teams set to play one last time on April 5 at Dallas. Los Angeles has won the last four matchups and five of the last six.

--Field Level Media