Luka Doncic held off Nick Harrison with key defensive stops against the Mavericks
The Luka Dončić trade rocked the NBA world last season. One of the best players in the league was traded without any warning. Then the then GM Niko Harrison justified the change of Dončić to Los Angeles Lakers saying that “defense wins championships.”
Of course, Harrison was referring to Doncic’s disheartening defensive effort. Although Harrison was fired as Mavs GM, Doncic still made a statement against the former GM when the Lakers played the Mavs this season in his second game at the American Airlines Center as an LA player.
After getting to the Mavs, the Lakers had to run. That, of course, required them to stop the attack on Dallas. Dallas was very clearly chasing Doncic on defense, trying to get him in a mismatch. However, Dončić stood his ground, opposing the Mavs several times. Doncic capped off his defensive effort by drawing a strikeout against Nadzi Marshall that secured the victory for Los Angeles.
After that, Lakers coach JJ Redick praised Doncic’s defensive effort.
“We calculated after the game, he had six straight stops where he was targeted,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said of Doncic, according to ESPN. “Just fantastic work from him. Then (he) makes a game-sealing defensive play on (Naji) Marshall.”
Of course, Doncic was still always reliable on the offensive side of the ball. The star of the Lakers finished the game with a good 33 points, along with eight rebounds and 11 assists. LA needed every bit of production as LA dropped as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter.
Thanks to Doncic’s brilliance and his timely defensive stops, LA managed a massive 29-8 counterattack against the Mavericks. The Lakers held on to win and maintain fifth place in the West.
2026-01-25 16:44:00
