LOS ANGELES _ The Los Angeles Lakers left November as the hottest team in the NBA. December greeted them with a cold slap in the face.
The Dallas Mavericks took advantage of all the Lakers mistakes and beat them, 114-100, at Staples Center. The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak constructed entirely against teams with losing records. The Lakers hadn't played a team with a winning record since Nov. 10, the date of their last loss.
The Mavericks, on the other hand, entered the game 12-6, with one of those six losses coming in an overtime game against the Lakers.
Dallas star Luka Doncic led the Mavericks with 27 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. The Mavericks also got double-digit contributions from Kristaps Porzingis, Dwight Powell, Delon Wright and Justin Jackson. LeBron James and Anthony Davis were the only Lakers players to score more than 10 points, with James scoring 25 and Davis scoring 27.
The Mavericks started the second half on a 9-0 run and that was just the beginning of the Lakers' third-quarter woes. Frustrated by the officiating, the Lakers stagnated on both ends of the court.
They went a span of four minutes of playing time without scoring a single point _ a drought broken by a three-pointer from Alex Caruso. Before his shot, the Mavericks had built a 20-point lead. Caruso's three was the beginning of a 10-0 run by the Lakers.
But after the Lakers got to within 10, Doncic did what he could to undo their progress. Doncic dished an assist to Wright, then scored five points of his own. The Lakers went into the fourth quarter trailing by 15.
James and Davis stayed in the game until late in the fourth quarter, but little could be done to undo the damage.
