Luka Doncic’s first full season with the Los Angeles Lakers has lived up to the immense hype. Luka is on pace to pick up his second-career scoring title while also ranking third in the NBA in assists.
After dealing with some minor injuries early in the season, Luka has really kicked it into another gear, and his performance in the Lakers’ win over the Chicago Bulls may have been his best of the season. Luka dropped a season-high 51 points to go along with 10 rebounds, nine assists and three steals in the 12-point victory, the Lakers’ fourth straight.
Notably, Luka knocked down nine 3-pointers in the win and has been shooting the ball much better from deep as of late, something head coach JJ Redick has taken notice of while discussing how Luka set the tone for the Lakers against the Bulls.
“I think his stretch is longer now. I think going back to January 1st, I think he shot a little under 40 [percent]. He’s been high volume, high efficiency for about two-and-a-half months now,” Redick noted. “It is so important because it just sets up the rest of his game when he’s making threes, and it obviously gives us life. It can be a kill shot some nights, it can be a run stop some nights.
“You know, he got off to a little bit of like a slow start for him shooting the ball. But that stretch there in the first half where he scored three or four possessions in a row, came down in isolation, hits the three from the right wing. That got us going a little bit when we had basically stopped playing defense for nine possessions. He was phenomenal all night. He made great reads out of the pick and roll, he got DA [Deandre Ayton] going. He had some great spray-out paint touch looks for us.
“The first play of the game, I think it set the tone for the whole night. We ran a movement set. [The] ball ends up back in his hands. He finds LeBron in the corner [and] LeBron makes the extra pass to AR [Austin Reaves]. DA does a great job rolling and takes out two guys. They all end up all over the floor. AR gets a wide open three. DA’s motor, LeBron’s unselfishness, you know, extra passes, Luka just making the right play. That play really set the tone for us offensively. I wish there was something I can say to praise our defense, but I don’t think I’ll be able to.”
Luka has been at another level in terms of his shooting since January. In 30 games since the start of the new year, he is shooting 48.9% from the field and 40.4% from 3-point range on more than 10 attempts per game. In the month of March, Luka is averaging 34.7 points, 9.1 rebounds and 7.4 assists on 50.3% shooting form the field and 41.7% from deep, and Redick doesn’t believe his play is getting the attention it deserves.
“He’s playing as well as anybody in the NBA right now,” Redick said. “It’s probably not being talked about enough, but I’m gonna talk about it.”
With so much going on around the NBA, Luka’s performance is going a bit under the radar. But Luka is basically a lock for another All-NBA First Team selection and Redick is going to make sure people take notice of the level he is at right now.
Lakers’ Luka Doncic spurred by trash talk from Bulls’ Matas Buzelis
One of the reasons Luka Doncic had such a strong performance in the Lakers’ win over the Bulls was due to the trash talk that came his way from their promising young guard Matas Buzelis, which Luka says woke him up.
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