The change in the late games and the Lakers’ empty holdings to close the game against the Mavericks on Tuesday night proved too costly to overcome, as LA dropped their third in a row to 109-104.

LeBron James led a much more energetic effort than the purple and gold and the energy compensated for some of the mistakes, the performance throughout the night and especially down the section was too much to overcome.

With another failure expected on national television, a huge third of the Lakers helped them clear the 21-point deficit and even saw them lead the second half. James led the race, scoring a record 26 points with 12 rebounds and 5 assists.

James started at the center again when the Lakers grew up with an never-used squad of Russell Westbrook, Malik Monk, Austin Reeves and Stanley Johnson around James. Although this lineup gave mixed results, it was a sharp, dramatic improvement from their loss on Sunday, even if the moral victories did not lead to anything for the Lakers at this point in the season.

Carmelo Anthony scored 20 points off the bench, and Monk added 17 points, five rebounds and four assists. As a team, the Lakers shot 14/34 from the line for 3 points and made only 12 runs after 16 in the first half of Sunday alone.

It was a significant, significantly improved performance for the Lakers after one of the lowest points of the season against New Orleans. In this loss to the Pelicans Lakers, they looked lifeless, apathetic and ready to give up the season. Since the inaugural board on Tuesday, efforts have never been a problem and have helped the team overcome many of its shortcomings at night.

Led by their youth injection in the starting lineup, the Lakers played with more energy and spirit than they had for some time, finding a lead in the beginning and holding it through much of the frame.

Not surprisingly, however, Luka Doncic did the job and helped the Mavericks take a 22-21 lead just after the middle of the quarter, first by throwing a reckless lob at Maxie Kleber before finishing on the edge of the next reign. His rematch – yes, indeed – over Dwight Howard, however, was the highlight of the quarter.

After the Lakers took a 25-22 lead, the Mavericks closed the frame in an 8-0 series, most of which came after James went to the bench to take a 30-25 lead in the second period.

A series of one basket at the beginning of the quarter led to an increase in Mavericks’ lead to 10 points at 38-28. Spencer Dinuidi continued his strong magic with Dallas after being reached in the deadline, increasing the lead to 44-32 after a corner three, imposing a timeout on Laker.

The Mavericks did not give up, and the lead rose to 16 points in the middle of the second period. While the Lakers’ starting lineup played with much improved energy, they were still not a very effective group.

Josh Green’s basket moments after Talen Horton-Tucker left the game after turning his ankle quickly changed the atmosphere of the game with the Mavericks, rising 56-38 and nothing worked for the Lakers.

Westbrook’s technical out of the ensuing timeout was second for the evening – soon followed by head coach Frank Vogel for the third – for the Lakers and Doncic added a jumper from the other end after a 21-point lead. Even when the Lakers seemed on the verge of running away, reducing the lead to 14 points, a consecutive 3 points by Dorian Feeney-Smith returned the lead to 18 points.

Feeney-Smith and Monk exchanged 3 points to close the half and the guests headed to the locker room with a score of 71-56.

Finally, the Lakers made a series in the second half with a series of 13-1, which included the passing of Austin Reeves, 3-pointer by Malik Monk, 3-pointer by Stanley Johnson, free throws by Monk and another Johnson 3-pointer to complete the escape with the Lakers lagging behind only 72-69.

While the Mavs initially stretched their lead back, the LeBron logo appeared when it buried a 3-pointer right on the inside of the field to keep the deficit at just three points. James continued his fiery shooting with a fading 3-pointer a few possessions later to level the game at 78 for each.

Malik Monk gave his first lead to the Lakers in the first quarter with a quick break at 82-80. After LeBron finally went to the bench, all hell broke loose when the teams exchanged baskets and 3 points, with the Lakers eventually leading 87-85 in the final frame after beating the Mavs 31-14 in the third.

Another strong start to the quarter saw LeBron’s main strike and a six-point lead for the hosts. After the Mavs reduced the lead to two points, LeBron’s jump and Anthony’s triple restored the five-point lead.

Big shots by Jalen Brunson and Doncic kept the Mavs within one point, while James sat ahead of Doncic and Powell finished the series 11-0 as part of seven consecutive shots for the visitors to give them a 105-100 lead.

After a time-out, Westbrook stopped running with a sharp kick in the middle of the lane. Doncic retained his five-point lead in the next round. Many turnovers and missed opportunities by the Lakers at the end of the section prevented them from taking advantage of their improved efforts on Tuesday, as the Mavs ended the game without much resistance from the hosts.

For the second time in three games, the Lakers will face a team in the playoffs as well, as they meet the Clippers on Thursday in a road trip. This will be another national television game on TNT with a signal scheduled for 22 hours

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed iTunes, Spotify, Tailor or Google Podcasts. You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.

INDIANAPOLIS – The Jets need to start scouting teams that are scouting quarterbacks with watchful eyes and other signs of falling in love.

The fuss on Tuesday when the NFL Combine kicked off was that there might not be a quarterback worthy of the top 10 in the draft, which would mean the Jets have fewer opportunities to look at number 4 and number 10. If their phone doesn’t ring with commercial offers, then the Jets did not get the full benefit of having a young quarterback on the spot plus two of the best choices to deal with another team looking for their own Zach Wilson to build.

So what are the chances of Kenny Pickett of Pittsburgh, Malik Willis of Liberty or another quarterback starting to climb and increase the value of Jets’ assets? The quarterbacks took part in a 15-minute series of interviews for the team on Tuesday night and had to throw themselves at Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday.

“It happens every year – quarterbacks are pushed out,” said Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht, who has the impossible task of taking over from retired Tom Brady. “People will choose their poison, and other people may rate it higher or lower than us.”

The Jets are in a sweet position if the trading market develops, because the goal of the Broncos (№ 9) and the Commanders (№ 11) would be to jump over the needy defenders Panthers (№ 6). If trading up to number 4 is too expensive for some partners, number 10 may attract interest from Saints (No. 18), Steelers (No. 20) and Buccaneers (No. 27), especially if all quarterbacks remain available after nine selections.

“As we approach the draft, we see what teams have joined the free agency and theirs [remaining] needs, ”said Broncos CEO George Patton. “It’s great to know what people may or may not accept in front of you. You watch everything. ”

The consensus among the draft gurus is that all five quarterbacks selected in the first round last April will be rated higher than the best option in this class. Well – unless journeymen and unsuccessful starters Drew Locke, Taylor Heineke, Sam Darnold, Theism Hill, Mason Rudolph and Blaine Gabert will not lead teams in 2022 – there is still a need for new blood.

“I believe it’s quality class,” said Kevin Colbert, CEO of Steelers. “There may not be as many players in this position as there were in the past, but there will certainly be NFL starting quarterbacks coming out of this class.

Only once in this century (2013) did the draft not include a quarterback in the top five. The NFL has been shown to be right to devalue the class led by EJ Manuel (№16 in the Bills) and second-round Jets Geno Smith. But the teams that passed in 2017 to Patrick Mahoms (№ 10) and Deshon Watson (№ 12) may think differently.

“This is the most important position in the sport, so we are always looking,” Patton said. “No stone turned to find this man. We know we need to play better than a quarterback. So we will be aggressive. “

The Jets already have the most drafts with two players from the second round and one from the third round, all in the top 70. So it’s not like they’re looking to get a pack of picks to accumulate more darts.

But a team that wants to trade a veteran – even one that needs an extension, given the Jets’ $ 48 million salary ceiling space – makes more sense in the victory phase of the recovery now. NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah suggested that the Jets could act as a middleman by recruiting high-end players for one of their first rounds, then watching their choices change again in exchange for a trade-seeking quarterback veteran.

The wild card for the Jets could be Colbert, who is retiring after the draft and could follow in the footsteps of former Ravens General Ozzy Newsham, who gave Lamar Jackson to his successor on his way out. Pickett played his home games at Steelers’ Heinz Field College.

“We try not to say [we’re trading] third and sixth, ”Colbert said, as a commercial example. “It simply came to our notice then [Pro Bowl receivers] Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown. We always try to put a name of choice in a given year and make sure we think it’s an equivalent trade. “