The Los Angeles Lakers returned to play on Tuesday night, taking on the Dallas Mavericks on the road after winning the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament in Las Vegas.

LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Luka Doncic were all allowed to play for their respective teams despite dubious tagging. However, Kyrie Irving and Jarred Vanderbilt were absent. Ultimately, the Mavericks prevailed with a 127-125 win, dropping the Lakers to 14-10 on the season.

The game got off to a rough start, with both sides committing early giveaways. Davis eventually got a reverse layup to go after missing a pair of layups.

After the Mavericks went on a 5-0 run, Taurean Prince Һit the first triple of the night for the Lakers. Davis subsequently received his second foul, forcing him to leave the game early.

With both James and Davis on the bench, the Lakers offense struggled as expected. Rui Hachimura came off the bench and scored five consecutive baskets to help, but Los Angeles trailed 34-26 at the half.

Tim Hardaway Jr. started the second quarter with another three for the Mavericks before Austin Reaves replied with one of his own. From then, the Lakers started to tighten up defensively, enabling them to chip away at their deficit as LeBron took the ball to the hole at will on the opposite end.

Dallas launched on another run after that, as Los Angeles couldn’t keep Doncic away from the free throw line. Seth Curry then Һit from deep, and the Mavericks were suԀԀenly up 13.

Turnovers continued to plague the Lakers, resulting in easy looks for the Mavericks, who stayed hоt from three. The Lakers scored six consecutive points toward the conclusion of the half to remain in the game, but they still trailed 71-61 at the break.

Davis was limping about with what seemed to be a groin ailment toward the conclusion of the first half, but he returned to the game to begin the third quarter. Early in the third quarter, however, it was James who was doing it for L.A. on both ends, and when he sank a triple and then Davis made a baby hook, the margin was down to five, prompting Jason Kidd to call a timeout.

The Lakers went on another run to end the third quarter, giving them their first lead since the initial few minutes. Davis played a key role in that, scoring five consecutive points, including a three-pointer at the clock to put his side up 95-93 heading into the fourth quarter.

James scored to start the fourth quarter, extending the run to 10-0, before Grant Williams and Dante Exum finished it with triples.

Doncic, Hardaway, James, and Davis continued to lead their respective teams, swapping baskets halfway through the fourth quarter with the game knotted at 108. However, after a pair of Lakers errors, Dallas scored five fast baskets as Exum remained hоt from deep.

While Doncic delivered as expected, it was the Mavericks’ other players like Hardaway, Exum, and Williams who remained a thorn in the Lakers’ side.

For Dallas, Prince did the same thing, hitting another triple to get the Lakers within four points heading into the final two minutes. The Lakers again left Exum wide open, and he took advantage with another corner three.

The Lakers weren’t able to respond from there and would go on to suffer the loss.

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