![\"ESPN](\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ybmedia\/image\/upload\/c_crop,h_675,w_1200,x_0,y_36\/c_fill,f_auto,h_900,q_auto,w_1600\/v1\/m\/0\/9\/09823774e98de18ae37e099b4284612d41f78327\/usatsi_25889827.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn a game that many fans across the NBA had circled, Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers took a trip to Texas to take on his former Dallas Mavericks squad Wednesday eveing.<\/p>\n
Despite a touching tribute video and commemoratives t-shirts dished out by the Mavericks, Doncic showed no mercy for the team who traded him after 6.5 years.<\/p>\n
Fueled by the crowd’s chants of “fire Nico (Harrison), Doncic led his new squad to a 112-97 win.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He finished the game with 45 points, and the win guaranteed that the Lakers will make the playoffs as a top-five seed.<\/p>\n
The Lakers weren’t the only recipients of great news, as according to ESPN, the game attracted the largest audience for an ESPN-televised game all season outside of the Christmas games.<\/p>\n
The release revealed that the game peaked at 2.79 million viewers, and was up 71% in comparison to a similar game last year.<\/p>\n
In a year where the ratings being down has been a popular topic of discussion, the NBA surely has to be pleased that there is now a built-in rivlary between the Lakers and Mavericks because of the trade.<\/p>\n
While Doncic will always hold a special place in his heart for Dallas, he made it clear after the game when speaking to ESPN, that he is moving on from that time period of his life.<\/p>\n
“Everybody saw me, the way I reacted to the video,” Doncic said.<\/p>\n
“All these fans, I really appreciate it, man. All the teammates I had, everybody had my back. I’m just happy. You know, I love these fans, I love this city, but it’s time to move on.”<\/em><\/p>\n With his return out of the way, Doncic and the Lakers are now focused on making a deep playoff run.<\/p>\n To finish out the year they will take on the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a game that many fans across the NBA had circled, Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers took a trip to Texas to take on his… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51728,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n