{"id":3291,"date":"2025-04-10T06:00:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T06:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3291"},"modified":"2025-04-10T06:00:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T06:00:52","slug":"mavs-vs-lakers-97-112-emotional-luka-clinches-play-off-spot-for-la-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3291","title":{"rendered":"Mavs vs Lakers 97-112: Emotional Luka clinches play-off spot for LA Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Luka Don\u010di\u0107 returned to Dallas on Wednesday night and delivered a performance to remember, scoring 45 points in a 112-97 Los Angeles Lakers win that clinched a playoff berth for his new team.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>View this post on Instagram<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A post shared by Los Angeles Lakers (@lakers)<\/p>\n<p>In his first game back at the American Airlines Center since being traded to the Lakers earlier this season, Don\u010di\u0107 opened the night visibly emotional after a tribute video played during pregame introductions.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the tears, he was dominant from the outset, scoring 31 points in the first half alone. He finished with 45 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s scoring effort matched his career high with the Lakers. LeBron James added 27 points and seven rebounds, helping close out the second half as the Lakers pulled away.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>View this post on Instagram<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A post shared by Los Angeles Lakers (@lakers)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToo many emotions. I don\u2019t know how I did it,\u201d Don\u010di\u0107 told ESPN. \u201cBut my teammates had my back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The reaction from the Dallas crowd was split. Don\u010di\u0107 received cheers throughout the night\u2014particularly when he touched the ball early\u2014and a standing ovation when he was subbed off in the final minutes.<\/p>\n<p>But the frustration of the home fans was directed toward Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, whose name was the subject of repeated &#8220;Fire Nico&#8221; chants.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions surrounding the trade that sent Don\u010di\u0107 to Los Angeles and brought Anthony Davis and Max Christie to Dallas were evident throughout.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>View this post on Instagram<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A post shared by NBA (@nba)<\/p>\n<p>The Mavericks briefly took the lead in the fourth quarter, but the Lakers responded with a 14-1 run to seal the result. Don\u010di\u0107 hit a three-pointer during the surge, effectively putting the game out of reach.<\/p>\n<p>Dallas, now 38-42, remains in 10th place in the Western Conference, holding the final play-in spot. The Lakers, with the win, improved to 49-31 and secured at least a top-six seed.<\/p>\n<p>Fans arrived early and filled the arena in tribute shirts reading \u201cthanks for everything\u201d in Slovenian. They lined the court to watch Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s warm-up and greeted his name with cheers during introductions.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>View this post on Instagram<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A post shared by Los Angeles Lakers (@lakers)<\/p>\n<p>After the game, Don\u010di\u0107 embraced former Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes before heading off the court.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love these fans, I love this city, but it\u2019s time to move on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers are now 2-0 against Dallas since the mid-season trade.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>View this post on Instagram<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A post shared by Los Angeles Lakers (@lakers)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luka Don\u010di\u0107 returned to Dallas on Wednesday night and delivered a performance to remember, scoring 45 points in a 112-97 Los Angeles Lakers win that clinched a playoff berth for his new team. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 View this post on Instagram \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 A post [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}