Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic has been under a microscope in recent weeks with a lot of criticism being thrown his way for complaining at the officials and not putting in effort on defense.
To his credit, Doncic has taken the criticism in stride and used it as fuel for his game. He had one of his best performances of the season on Friday night, leading the shorthanded Lakers to an easy victory over the Indiana Pacers in the second night of a back-to-back.
Doncic was aggressive from the jump with 22 points in the first quarter, finishing with 44 points, nine rebounds and five assists in just 32 minutes, resting the entire fourth quarter.
It wasn’t just Doncic’s offense that impressed though as he was also making plays on the other end of the court, recording to three steals in two blocks. In the Lakers’ previous game against the Denver Nuggets, Doncic had four more steals.
While Doncic knows a lot of people won’t give him credit for the effort he is putting in defensively, he is focused on improving on that end of the floor.
“I know people are not gonna talk about it, never. Just trying to do my job,” he said after the win. “Be more aggressive, more engaged. Just trying to be better on the defensive end.”
Doncic is never gonna be a lockdown defender, but the energy he has given on that end of the floor in recent weeks has been nice to see. With the Slovenian star, a lot of people like to focus on the things he can’t do, but as he said, they then refuse to give him props when he proves them wrong.
That could be said about his defense or the way he complains to the officials, but regardless, the care-factor is certainly there for Doncic.
“It shows that I really care for the game … I want to win every game,” he said about his passion and fire. “Obviously, there’s a lot of emotions, but that means a lot of care for the game. This game has given me everything, so that’s why sometimes it’s a lot.”
There certainly is no doubting Doncic’s passion for the game, it’s just about channeling it in the right way, which he seems to be doing.
JJ Redick defends Luka Doncic amid criticism
One person who is always going to support Luka Doncic is Lakers head coach JJ Redick, and he explained why.
“Look, I think he’s a special kind of player, special kind of person and a special kind of competitor,” Redick said before Friday’s game against the Pacers. “I would much rather have someone who is trying to go out every night and kill than someone you have to revive with a defibrillator every other day. So, I’ll take Luka all day long.”
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