On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers welcomed the Dallas Mavericks in an effort to continue their winning streak in the second game of a back-to-back.

The Lakers’ LeBron James and Anthony Davis played in both games, despite the back-to-back nature of the schedule, while the Mavericks’ Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving were also available. The Mavericks defeated the Lakers, 104-101, despite a valiant effort by the Lakers, who fell to 9-7 on the season.

Since Cam Reddish was out with adductor soreness, the Lakers started Max Christie, who scored the team’s first point on a 3-pointer. In the first quarter, the Mavericks took a 10–5 lead thanks to back-to-back triples by Grant Williams and Kyrie Irving after the Lakers missed many easy layups.

Despite Taurean Prince’s recent troubles, it was encouraging to see him connect on a corner three as the Lakers eventually rallied with five straight to tie the game.

The Lakers’ first bench player, Rui Hachimura, scored five consecutive points, but Dallas’s Luka Doncic answered with five of his own. Even though the Mavericks carried a 29-25 edge into halftime, the first quarter was very close the whole way.

In the first few minutes of the second quarter, the Lakers became careless, leading to two turnovers by James and a double-digit advantage for the Mavericks.

As Dallas was on fire for the majority of the second quarter, Los Angeles struggled to defend the 3-point line. Conversely, Davis was contributing on the opposite side by making several clutch baskets in the paint to prevent the game from slipping away.

However, the Lakers couldn’t muster much more in the last minutes of the half, and they entered the locker room down 62-46.

A third-quarter surge was necessary for the Lakers to regain momentum and tie the game. After a scoreless first half, the Lakers started to chip away with to D’Angelo Russell’s offensive explosion, but Doncic and Irving remained hot to start the quarter.

They weren’t making much ground because James and Davis weren’t scoring enough and the Lakers kept committing stupid errors. Irving hit yet another corner three, putting the Mavericks up 91–71 into the final frame.

James attempted a three-point play and a triple to pull the Lakers within striking distance, but Austin Reaves also drained one, doubling the gap to thirteen points. Dallas had to take a timeout because of it, but it didn’t stop Reaves, who scored four in a row to bring the Mavericks’ lead down to double digits.

From there, the Lakers’ floodgates began to open as Prince and James both made long-range shots, and LeBron made a layup to cut the lead to three.

Doncic and Irving, of all people, helped the Mavericks get back on track with consecutive baskets to extend their advantage to seven points.

However, the Lakers kept fighting and eventually forced another timeout from Dallas by scoring five points in a row. In the final two minutes of the game, Reaves tied the score at 99 with another floater.

James continued to score, eventually tipped in a field goal that gave the Lakers their first lead of the game after yet another save. The Mavericks took a one-point lead in the waning seconds of the game thanks to a 3-pointer by Irving.

In his search for Davis, James flipped the card over, and Irving made a pair at the line. The Lakers had a last shot to win with 2.8 seconds left in regulation, but James missed the buzzer to seal the deal.