LOS ANGELES -- For most of the fourth quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers prioritized forcing the ball out of Luka Doncic's hands, sending a steady diet of double-teams at the MVP candidate and daring his Dallas Mavericks teammates to beat him.
The strategy worked, allowing the Lakers to rally from a deficit that had been as large as 19 points in the third quarter and take a three-point lead with seconds remaining. Doncic was scoreless for the first 11 minutes, 54 seconds of the fourth quarter -- until he swished an overtime-forcing stepback 3 over Dennis Schroder's single coverage.