What Naji Marshall did to trigger LeBron James in Luka’s revenge game

It was supposed to be the Luka Doncic show, and it was for the most part on Tuesday night. The Dallas Mavericks went to Los Angeles to play the Lakers and Luka Donicic for the first time since the midseason trade that sent shockwaves through the league. Luka had a triple-double, but LeBron James closed out the Mavs in the fourth quarter.

Don’t come at The King

LeBron doesn’t need any added motivation to go out and play with maximum energy and passion. He’s 40 years old and he’s playing back-to-backs, while playing through injury and still continues to dominate players half his age. While he doesn’t need motivation, he always welcomes it, and the Mavs’ Naji Marshall gave him a plate full on Tuesday night’s spotlight game.

All eyes were on Luka from Crypto.com Arena and the newest Laker was like a shark that smelled blood. He came out hungry and dropped a 19, 15 and 12, and almost had a triple-double in the first half as LA built up a 16 point lead.

Early in the second quarter while Luka was still rolling something triggered LeBron and he waited until the perfect moment to exact his revenge on Naji Marshall and the Mavs. Marshall took LeBron to the basket and scored over him with a little push shot off the glass and then did the too small celebration. To LeBron James.

LeBron kills off the Mavs comeback

James let Luka cook for most of the game, but when it was time to take over the game he did exactly that. The Mavs clawed their way back into the game and tied it up at one point in the fourth quarter, but LeBron carried his team to the finish line.

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He scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and had a tip slam that basically ended the game putting LA up six points with under two minutes to go. James ended the night with 27, 12 and 3 assists as the Lakers rattled off their third straight game and 8th in their last 10.

This was just the first chapter of the Luka vs Mavericks sage, and Luka made the headlines but LeBron closed the door on Dallas. Los Angeles will have to go to Dallas in early April, and coach Jason Kidd will be hoping that Marsall doesn’t provide any extra motivation to LeBron in that game.