The Los Angeles Lakers seem to be turning a corner. Saturday night marked L.A.’s fifth straight victory and eighth in nine games. It was another masterful showing from Luka Doncic, who finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists and hit the game-winning bucket in overtime.
What makes this a truly meaningful win for the Lakers is the way they’ve fared against good teams recently. The Lakers — who notoriously struggled with teams above .500 this season — are now 3-0 against the Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks in the last seven days.
The Nuggets win was particularly thrilling, as well, needing a heroic play from Austin Reaves, hustle from LeBron James and clutch buckets from Marcus Smart to get over the hump. Doncic credited the whole roster, as well as the Laker faithful in attendance, for the victory.
“It was really feeling like actually every guy that was on the floor did something to get us that win,” Doncic said after the game. “You know, those wins, when you have a big game and then you get down, it’s easy to not quit but just relax a little bit and [we] just came back. The crowd, we got the crowd into it and that helped us lot.”
The Lakers truly did get big moments from just about everybody. Reaves scored 32 and had the bucket to send the game to overtime. Doncic had his typical stellar night. James had 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and the hustle play of the game.
Smart had 21 points, while Deandre Ayton came up huge with his defense and rebounding in overtime. It was the type of win that gives a team confidence they can compete in the postseason. The Lakers are now third in the West, but will have even more tests upcoming as their schedule does not get any easier.
They play the Houston Rockets twice, the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons in the next five games, all of whom are eight games above .500 or better. Having success with that daunting of a schedule means even more collective efforts like the one they saw against the Nuggets.
LeBron James: Luka Doncic’s game-winner was first of many
LeBron James talked about Luka Doncic’s game-winning bucket on Saturday night, saying that it’s a big-time moment from a superstar player. He also hopes it is the first of many of those types of shots from the Lakers star.
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