Los Angeles Lakers lose with a game-winner buzzer-beater from the Dallas Mavericks
In the most intense competition of the series on March 18, the Dallas Mavericks came as a guest against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Stadium. Both teams are very thirsty to win because they are in a fierce race to the Playoffs.
After a period of suffocating tension, a hero spoke with a 3-point game-winning buzzer-beater, engulfing the LA team with a final score of 111-110.
After Anthony Davis missed one of the last two fourth-half free kicks to put the Lakers ahead by two points, the Dallas Mavericks had control of the ball with 6.7 seconds remaining on the clock.
Holding the right to decide when he can equalize or win if he successfully throws 3 points, Dallas has the ball in the hands of Kyrie Irving. Initially, the Lakers defense did a good job not giving Kyrie any space.
But in a split second, Irving realized Maxi Kleber was getting ready for an empty 3-pointer. The ball was sent out with a perfect pass, then the German pitcher coolly "finished" the Los Angeles Lakers with a buzzer-beater throw.
The ball left Maxi Kleber's fingertips when the clock was only 0.1 seconds, just enough for a valid throw to bring indescribable emotions to the Dallas Mavericks players.
Obviously the game-winner at the final whistle was the highlight of the game, it was not the only "clutch" situation that Maxi Kleber performed.
Just before that, he was fouled by Anthony Davis while on a 3-pointer, bringing in 3 free-throw opportunities. If Kleber missed just one free kick or more, Dallas would be hard pressed to win.
Despite having an FT success rate of only 58.3% this season, the German bigman threw in all 3 free throws to close the Lakers' lead to 1.
This scenario has brought back unhappy memories of the Los Angeles Lakers fans. 3 months ago, they lost to the Indiana Pacers with almost the same ending.
If in the match on March 18, Maxi Kleber threw through Anthony Davis's super long arm span, back in January, rookie Andrew Nembhard launched a game-winner over LeBron James's block.
Losing to the Dallas Mavericks today, the Los Angeles Lakers officially lost the Regular Season series with a score of 1-3, losing their head-to-head advantage over the team of Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic.
Even more notable for the Lakers is that they even missed a golden opportunity to get promoted. Also in the series on March 18, a series of directly competitive teams such as the New Orleans Pelicans, Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors all lost.
But because of not surpassing Dallas, the Los Angeles Lakers have now dropped to 10th place in the Western rankings with a record of 34-37.
The difference between them and the top-6 is not too big (2 matches), but the Lakers fans can't help but regret that the team has stumbled too many times.
The three defeats in the last four matches of the yellow and purple shirt team all have a difference of less than 4 points, against the New York Knicks, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks, respectively.
It is worth mentioning that today, the Lakers led the opponent by 4 points when the game had more than 30 seconds left and still had control of the ball. However, they are still the losers.
