Lakers' momentum stalls in 118-97 loss to Mavericks

DALLAS -- TheLos Angeles Lakers' growing momentum came to a screeching halt Tuesday with a 118-97 loss to an undermanned Dallas Mavericks team, dropping L.A. to 0-2 on its Texas two-step trip that started with a defeat in Houston.

"I mean, it sucks, obviously, especially knowing where we were and how well we've been playing," LeBron James said after the Lakers dropped to No. 6 in the Western Conference standings.

They started the trip No. 4 in the West, having won eight of 11 games while upgrading the roster, acquiring Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton forD'Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks.

But things took a turn for the worse. Los Angeles trailed by as many as 22 in the first half before losing 119-115 to the Houston Rockets -- a team that came into the game having lost three of four games and missing Jabari Smith Jr. (fractured left hand).

The Lakers' stumble continued in Dallas against a Mavericks team that came in having lost six of seven games. Despite the Mavs playing without Luka Doncic (left calf strain), Kyrie Irving (bulging disk in back) and Daniel Gafford (left ankle injury), Dallas outscored L.A. 63-47 in the second half to run away with the win.

"Obviously, they killed us with any iso stuff," Lakers coach JJ Redick said after his team allowed the Mavs to shoot 52.3% from the field and nearly as well from 3, going 18-for-38 (47.4%).

James (18 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists), credited Mavs coach Jason Kidd -- a former Lakers assistant coach -- for his "great game plan" against the Lakers' defense.

Specifically, Kidd directed his players to target Austin Reaves in isolation situations.

"I felt like they just put people in pick-and-roll who they wanted in pick-and-roll and they tried to exploit matchups," James said. "And when we got into rotations, we didn't make enough second efforts."

Reaves took accountability for his performance.

"The first half was god-awful," said Reaves, who finished with a plus/minus of minus-25 in 32 minutes. "The second half I thought was better. But I can't allow that. I was just really, really bad on both sides of the ball tonight."

Reaves scored 15 points, going 5-for-14 from the field (4-for-11 from 3).

The Lakers' most consistent player this season, Anthony Davis, didn't fare much better. He scored 21 points on 7-for-18 shooting with 12 rebounds and 2 blocks but was partially responsible for Dallas outscoring 52-40 in the paint.

Redick pointed to the bevy of bunnies the Lakers missed at the rim -- Davis included -- sapping their energy on the defensive end.

Davis declined to speak to reporters after the game.

Finney-Smith said the Lakers could have used Davis and the rest of the team being more vocal on defense, to help out players like Reaves when they were targeted in pick-and-rolls.

"We got to do a better job of talking behind guys, giving them confidence so defenders can crawl up in ball handlers and force them to the rim," Finney-Smith said. "And we got AD down there, so we got to use it."

The Lakers return to Los Angeles for their next eight games -- seven at Crypto.com Arena and their debut at Intuit Dome to play the LA Clippers -- starting with the Charlotte Hornets.

"We got another game in, s---, less than 48 hours," James said. "So, we can't really dwell on it too much. That's the name of the game of the NBA. You see what you could've done better, but you got to get ready for the next opponent and we got another game coming on Thursday in our home building."br/]