Lakers player grades: Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves are red-hot vs Mavs

After clinching first place in West Group B of the Emirates NBA Cup with a win on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers looked to solidify their seeding in the quarterfinal round when they took on the Dallas Mavericks in group play on Friday.

The Lakers held a modest lead for a good part of the first half, but Dallas forged a 69-62 lead early in the third quarter. They responded with a 20-8 run to start to take control of the game, and while Dallas remained within striking distance, Los Angeles calmly and methodically remained in front en route to a 129-119 win.

This was L.A.'s sixth win in a row, and its hot offensive output of late continued. It shot 59.2% from the field and made 51.4% of its attempts from 3-point range, and with each game, one can sense it building more and more momentum as far as becoming an offensive juggernaut. With a 14-4 record, the Lakers are still in second place in the Western Conference and lead the third-place Houston Rockets by a full game.

Rui Hachimura: B-minus

Hachimura shot just 5-of-13 from the field, but when the Lakers needed supplemental scoring, he provided it. He made half of his eight 3-point attempts and finished with 14 points, and he also chipped in four rebounds and one steal in 36 minutes.

Deandre Ayton: B-plus

Ayton's play wasn't very "loud" in this game, but he made his impact felt enough. In his return after a one-game absence that resulted from a knee contusion, he feasted in the paint and made all but one of his nine shot attempts, giving him 17 points. He grabbed eight rebounds and also contributed two assists, two blocks and one steal.

Austin Reaves: A-plus

While Reaves has been a volume scorer to start this season, he has had trouble at times with his shooting efficiency. That wasn't exactly the case on Friday.

He almost seemingly couldn't miss, as he went 12-of-15 from the field, 6-of-8 from 3-point land and 8-of-9 from the free throw line, giving him a game-high 38 points. Lately, he has been attacking off the dribble as a first resort and using that to set up the threat of his 3-point shot, rather than the other way around.

At times, he hit Mavericks defenders with a series of shifty dribbles that allowed him to create driving lanes for himself, and he would simply embarrass whoever was trying to guard him.

Reaves also had eight rebounds, three assists and just one turnover in 41 minutes.

Luka Doncic: A

Doncic has elevated his already fantastic game to an even higher level this season, and it wasn't hard to see this coming during the summer when he lost quite a bit of weight and got into fantastic shape.

On Friday, he shot 10-of-18 from the field and 4-of-9 from downtown to score 35 points. He showed good patience when attacking off the dribble, which allowed him to get several layups against a set defense. The Mavericks looked to trap him beyond the 3-point line, especially near the baseline, and he picked them apart by dishing off 11 assists. In his spare time, Doncic grabbed five rebounds and blocked one shot in 40 minutes.

It's starting to seem at times as if he's toying with opponents, and he's achieving an incredible level of mastery when it comes to the game.

LeBron James: C

James didn't assert himself in this game, but it didn't matter, and it speaks to the Lakers' incredible star power. He took four shots in the first half, of which he made one, and he ended up going 5-of-13 overall and made two of his six attempts from long range. James scored 13 points and also had seven assists, five rebounds and one steal in 34 minutes.

When it comes to James, everyone has been talking about load management over the last few years and having him sit out of a handful of games in order to preserve him. What transpired on Friday is a preferable version of load management — having James kick back and let others do the heavy lifting so that he can save his energy for the tough opponents, as well as the playoffs.

Jaxson Hayes: B

Hayes contributed off the bench by scoring six points on 3-of-4 shooting and adding two rebounds, one assist and one block in 12 minutes.

Gabe Vincent: B/B-plus

Vincent supplied some scoring punch in the first quarter by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers late in the period. He ended up going 2-of-3 from the field and scoring six points while dealing out three assists in 23 minutes.

Jake LaRavia: D

LaRavia got off to a very good start offensively this season, but he came into Friday having scored in double figures just three times in his previous 10 games. Versus the Mavericks, he didn't take a single shot and went scoreless in 14 minutes. His only contributions were two rebounds.

Maxi Kleber: Incomplete

Kleber played four minutes and missed his only shot attempt. He went scoreless and had one steal.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers player grades: Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves are red-hot vs Mavs