This Sunday, the (13-19) Los Angeles Lakers will travel to Dallas, TX to take on the (17-16) Dallas Mavericks on Christmas Day. Tipoff will be at 2:30 PM EST inside the American Airlines Center. This will be the first time that these two teams have matched up this season, as I am expecting a battle in this one!
The Los Angeles Lakers are coming into this game after falling to the Charlotte Hornets, 134-130. They struggled on the defensive end of the court, as they will have to pressure more shooters in this game if they want to challenge the Mavs on the road.
The Dallas Mavericks are entering this matchup after defeating the Houston Rockets, 112-106. The Mavs looked great on the defensive end of the court, as they only allowed the Rockets to shoot 30.8% from behind the arc. They will have to continue contesting shots on the perimeter if they want to take care of business at home.

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This game was written/published before last night's results.
The Los Angeles Lakers are currently in 13th place in the Western Conference standings, as they are still 7.5 games back from the first-place Denver Nuggets. On offense, they are scoring 115.7 points per game and they are shooting 47.8% from the floor. This is the sixth most points scored per contest and the eighth-highest team shooting percentage. According to dunksandthrees.com, Los Angeles has an adjusted offensive rating of 111.3, which is the 24th-highest rating in the NBA. Lebron James continues to lead the way on the offensive end of the floor, as he is scoring 27.1 points per game on 49.3% from the field. Unfortunately, the Lakers have not been as impressive from behind the arc. They have only shot 33.6% from deep, which is the 26th-highest three-point shooting percentage in the league. Luckily, they have taken care of business at the charity stripe. The Lakers have made 79.5% of their shots at the stripe, which is the ninth-highest team free-throw shooting percentage. They can't miss out on these free looks at the basket and still expect to win these games.
On the defensive end of the court, the Lakers have struggled to apply enough pressure to halt their opponents. They are currently allowing 117.8 points and their opponents have shot 47% from the floor. This is the 26th least amount of points surrendered per contest and the 16th lowest shooting percentage allowed. According to dunksandthrees.com, the Lakers have an adjusted defensive rating of 113.6, which is the 18th lowest rating in the NBA. Los Angeles has struggled to consistently contest shots near the rim, but their perimeter defense has saved them at different times. They are forcing their opponents to shoot 34.8% from behind the arc, which is the eighth-lowest three-point shooting percentage allowed in the league. Los Angeles is also snatching 44.8 rebounds per game, which is the seventh most.
Injury Report: Anthony Davis PF (Foot), Cole Swider PF (Foot), and Juan Toscano-Anderson SF (Ankle) are listed as out. Thomas Bryant C is listed as Day-to-Day.
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