The Los Angeles Lakers were shutting down the Dallas Mavericks for most of the first half on Tuesday. Then three straight Klay Thompson triples erased their lead.
With 2:43 remaining in the first half, Thompson made three-pointers on four straight Mavericks possessions, his scoring surge only slowed by an out-of-bounds turnover by Thompson on one of the possessions. It sparked an 11-0 Dallas run that ended the half and left the Mavs with a 55-50 halftime lead.
Thompson has made the fifth-most three-pointers in NBA history, so this kind of sharpshooting was not surprising, except to the Lakers, who still left Thompson wide open in the corner for his third three even after he’d drained two triples in a row.
Playing without Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, the Mavericks successfully slowed down the pace of the game. But they also took advantage of the Lakers’ tendency to take their time getting back on defense.
On the final play of the first half, the Lakers keyed on Thompson behind the arc. At the same time, Anthony Davis jogged back slowly on defense. The combination of the defense shading towards Thompson and Davis being out of position let Spencer Dinwiddie get an uncontested dunk to complete the 11-0 run.
Thompson doesn’t need much to get open, but the Lakers’ otherwise solid defense needs to stop the former Splash Brother or they’re in danger of being washed away.
