LOS ANGELES — Luka Doncic scored seven of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, Jalen Brunson added 22 points and the Dallas Mavericks rallied for a 109-104 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
Dorian Finney-Smith had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Mavericks, who registered their eighth win in 10 games after taking an early lead over the struggling Lakers.
Dallas was trailing 100-94 with seven minutes to go before scoring 11 consecutive points in a rally started by Brunson's fourth 3-pointer.
"At halftime we told them, 'They're coming. LeBron is coming,'" said Dallas coach Jason Kidd. "In the third quarter, LeBron put on a show, but we didn't lose our cool. It's one of the things we did better, and it's back to what we did at Golden State in the fourth quarter. . We kept them for 17 points, and that's great."
💥 OK THEN LUKA!
— NBA (@NBA) March 2, 2022
Luka Doncic crashes in for the TOUGH put-back SLAM on TNT pic.twitter.com/rnwOTHCx07
Doncic went 21 out of 9 and looked significantly less sharp than most of the previous games during his month-long scoring tear, but made enough baskets to win it.
"We stayed together and just executed the game plan, played the game," Doncic said. "My mindset is to close the game with the best shot. We did the stretch."
LeBron James scored 26 points for the Lakers and 20 points from Carmelo Anthony, who took his sixth loss in seven games despite erasing a 21-point deficit in 12 thrilling minutes stretching to halftime. Los Angeles could only manage four points in the last seven plus minutes.
"I don't know if you can do a better job on Luca than tonight," said Lakers coach Frank Vogel. "Our guys really competed. Our assistants really competed, but they had that stretch in crunch time where they made a few buckets in a row. Not great. ... It hurts. All these guys There are pains. We are putting in the work."
Despite putting in a much better effort against Dallas than in their most recent games, Los Angeles has lost 15 out of 21 games to the season's worst seven games down to .500, even in post-season play. Even in these tournaments, its position is increasingly looking weak. Los Angeles is 0-3 since the All-Star break.
"We still have games to play," James said. "Unless you stump me, chop my head, kick me 12 feet down, I've got a chance. So that's my confidence. We have to come here and win the ballgame and play better, but As long as we've got ballgames to play, we have a chance."
Two nights after the Lakers were booed by their home fans in a lifeless blow loss to New Orleans, James and his teammates had crowds applauding his effort and return - but the result was the same.
Dallas wrapped up the five-game road trip with four wins, but only after a largely poor second half.
The Mavs jumped for their big lead during the first half, highlighted by Doncic's one-handed putback dunk on Dwight Howard late in the first quarter.
"I hit my head [on the rim]," said Doncic, laughing. "We're not going to talk about that. Let me enjoy the moment."
The first half looked like another wreck for the Lakers, who received three technical fouls to argue between their missed shots and the lap defense. Vogel, Kent Bezmore and Russell Westbrook, who missed eight of their first nine shots, all went up.
But Los Angeles scored 22-7 at halftime and pulled through even with Dallas cold-shooting James's 3-pointer.
TIP-INS: Lakers - They also waived two-way forward Sekou Doumbouya to make a second roster spot. ... Avery Bradley missed his fourth straight game with a right knee injury.
Mavericks - Dallas avenged a loss at home to the Lakers in December, while Doncic was sidelined with an ankle injury. ... Spencer Dinwiddie had 14 points and nine assists.
Switching DJs: After what was essentially an ugly hand-pat on the trade deadline, the Lakers on Tuesday forgave disappointing center DeAndre Jordan and signed veteran point guard DJs. Augustine and travelman forward Wayne Gabriel. The newcomers weren't in town yet, but should be available later this week.
ROUGH RUSS: Westbrook went 5-for-17 and missed all four of his 3-point attempts in the 2017 NBA MVP's latest disappointing game—though his 38 minutes were turnover-free.
"I have to get better overall. What I'm doing right now isn't good enough," Westbrook said.
Answer Next: The Mavericks will host the Warriors on Thursday. The Lakers are at the Clippers on Thursday.