The Los Angeles Lakers came up just short in their first game in Texas, but they get an ideal bounceback opponent in the shorthanded Dallas Mavericks. Anthony Davis and LeBron James lead the Lakers against a Mavericks team that has lost five straight games and is without both stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
The main issue for the Lakers against Houston was that they failed to match the energy and physicality of the Rockets in the first half and being destroyed on the offensive glass. The Mavericks definitely have some players who are capable of doing the same with the likes of Derrick Lively II, PJ Washington and Dwight Powell, so the Lakers need to put bodies on bodies and make sure not to give the Mavericks extra possessions.