Lakers vs. Mavericks: Takeaways Moving Forward

Of the many reasons why the Lakers lost to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night, three stood out. 

While most fans did not expect the Lakers to be championship contenders, they probably also didn’t expect it to be this bad. Through three games, Los Angeles has yet to notch a win. Here are some takeaways from last night’s game:

LA Must Stop Opposing Stars

It’s mind boggling that with the amount of film they claim to watch and the amount of preparation NBA players say they have, that an opponent’s best player could be allowed to run around so freely. Last night, Dirk Nowitzki did just that.

Would you expect anything less than perfection from the seven-foot Dallas power forward? Dirk made ten out of thirteen field goals and two out of three 3-pointers for a total of 25 points in 30 minutes. The sad fact of the matter is that he didn’t even have to play the final minutes of the game and the Mavericks still closed out the Lakers.

Dirk is known for being able to shoot almost anywhere on the court and probably make the shot. Julius Randle was given the job to defend this NBA Champion and seemingly came up short.

In contrast, Lakers front man Kobe Bryant played for 31 minutes, and he was a perfect seven for seven on his free-throws, but that’s where the perfection stopped. Bryant only made three out of fifteen shots and two out of eight 3-pointers. His performance last night was so atrocious that he told reporters, “I friggin sucked.”

For the Lakers to be successful, they can’t let opposing stars take advantage of them the way Nowitzki did last night.

LA Must Select A Floor General 

Every winning team has a great floor general. A floor general is in charge by orchestrating the rest of the team on offense to set up plays and make things happen. In other words, the floor general is the coach on the court. If Byron Scott is not calling plays, it is up to this guy to direct traffic.

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The floor general is usually the point guard, the player who brings the ball up the court, the player who can see where the mismatches are, and where the ball should be going first. Is D’Angelo Russell the Lakers’ floor general? If not him, is it Jordan Clarkson? To this point, the Lakers players seem just as confused as fans.

As of now, the Lakers have no floor general, to the detriment of the team.

A team needs a floor general on both sides of the court, who has that role on defense for the Lakers? Fans have lived through three losses so far this season, and one of the only times they’ve seen a true defensive leader is when Metta World Peace was allowed to play in Hawaii.

World Peace was instructing and moving his teammates around on defense even pointing to where they should be standing. He saw a need to have someone coordinating players out on the floor during the game and he filled the role. That said, the coach decided not to play him once again.

For the Lakers to be successful, they need to select a floor general on both ends of the floor.

LA Needs to Compete All 48 Minutes

Nov 1, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward

Julius Randle

(30) reaches for the ball to keep in in bounds in the second half of the game against the Dallas Mavericks at Staples Center. Mavericks won 103-93. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

During most of the game against the Mavericks on Sunday night, it was apparent that Randle had shown up to play. Randle played with intensity, with heart, and his obvious playmaking ability was a sight for sore eyes.

Randle was expected to average a double-double before the season. Sunday night, Randle did just that, scoring 22 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. He also tacked on four assists, four steals and one block against the Mavs, only committing two fouls.

Kobe played with intensity but seemed to play trying to prove that he could get in a groove and get the ball through the net.

It wasn’t until the last six or so minutes when the entire team came alive on defense. Fans saw players double-teaming, switching, rotating, it was a glorious thing to watch, but way too late in the game.

Maybe the Lakers could have added a player to their bench and used some fresh legs to play more defense. Coach Scott only had ten players on his bench while Dallas played with eleven players — Scott decided not to play World Peace, Tarik Black, and Anthony Brown for the game.

For a team who was playing catch-up from the beginning of the game when the Mavs scored 15 unanswered points, they should have started to play that type of intense defense much earlier.

For the Lakers to be successful, they need to compete for 48 minutes, night in and night out. On to the next one!

Next: Los Angeles Lakers Finally Embracing the Three Point Shot

What do you think should be the Lakers’ main focus going forward? Let us know in the comments below!