In the Lakers’ search for someone to energize them against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday, they found him with Wenyen Gabriel.
And the Lakers rode with Gabriel in the all-important fourth quarter, playing it alongside Anthony Davis, relying on the backup center as a defender and rebounder.
Gabriel got the job done, playing all but one second of the fourth quarter, 23:16 total, while collecting 11 rebounds to complete nine points.
It was “just his energy” that allowed Lakers coach Darvin Ham to trust Gabriel.
“He has a great, great nose for the ball,” Ham said. “(He had) 11 rebounds. He tries to defend, he tries to protect the rim. … It’s just a spark plug, another one of our spark plugs. The size of him, his ability to run from one side of the court to the other, clean up loose balls and grab rebounds and offensive kicks. He really defends well. And he showed all of that tonight. That’s why we stay with him.”
For all he did well, helping dangerous Dallas point guard Kyrie Irving, it was a painful night for Gabriel and the Lakers, who lost the game on Maxi Kleber’s last-second 3-pointer.
“This one hurts, brother, really,” Gabriel said. “Tired of losing these close games.”
Gabriel entered with 4:16 to play in the third quarter and played until the final buzzer, with the exception of a momentary substitution and quick re-entry, his play contagious and inspiring.
Gabriel had four rebounds in the fourth quarter, all offensive.
When Irving got the ball late in the game, Gabriel was helping Dennis Schroder on defense, using his long arms and sliding his 6-9 body to prevent the Dallas star from taking any more shots.
“That’s part of one of the things with my skill set, is that mobility to do that with a guy like Kyrie or I’m guarding a big guy, being able to double, slide and try to get the ball out of his hands and that was something. that it was my job,” Gabriel said. “And then, when my boy helps, he looks for offensive rebounds and that is another thing that I have been able to add value to the team.
“And just play with a lot of energy and play with a higher IQ and understand how to play different players. Just like today, today was the first time I played AD in a long time and I think those minutes looked good and hopefully we’ll have more opportunities for that later on as well.”
free throw problems
The Lakers’ poor free-throw shooting hurt them badly. They got to the line more than enough, shooting 31 free throws.
But they only did 19, or 61.3%.
That won’t do it. He didn’t get it.
The Lakers shot 64.3% from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, when the game was there for them to close out.
“And we did the job that we wanted to,” Ham said. “We seek to play every game, and that is to win the free throw line. We made 31 attempts, but you managed to make more than 19. We take our free throws, we’re probably not having this conversation.”
Davis made one of two free throws with 6.7 seconds left, giving the Lakers a two-point lead, but left the door open for Kleber to hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for Dallas’ victory over a stunned Lakers team.
“I pulled a little to the right. We would have gone up three after that point,” Davis said. “I’m still processing it. I mean, think about it, he raises three, even if he makes a three, in overtime. … I mean, a tough loss.”
