The Los Angeles Lakers got back on track on Friday night against the New Orleans Pelicans and a big reason for that was the all-around play of Luka Doncic.
The superstar had been a scoring tear to begin the season, but he did more damage with his passing in this one. Doncic had 24 points on the night on 6-of-16 shooting but also added seven rebounds, 12 assists, two steals and one block in 40 minutes.
New Orleans was blitzing Doncic at a high rate to get the ball out of his hands, so his solution was to get open looks for his teammates. The Lakers didn’t convert of all of them, but Doncic doesn’t mind playing that way if that’s how defenses attack him, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I think I just try to read the game. We just tried to get some amazing looks, some great looks. I think we missed a lot of open shots. But that’s how we’re gonna play if they double me. I always say I accept the double, I like the double. Makes you play four-on-three, a lot of space. I think today we could [of] had 150 points, honestly. If you’re open, we gotta take the shot no matter what. At the end of the day, we won the game. So that’s what matters.”
As a whole, the Lakers have not shot well from deep this season as they rank 25th in the league in 3-point percentage at 33.3%. They have an impressive 9-4 record despite that though, which is why Doncic is encouraged about where the team is at:
“I think that’s big for us to be 9-4 despite those percentages, honestly. Like I said, I think we’re getting great looks and that’s motivational. I think we can be so much better, even with a 9-4 record. I think we could’ve won a couple games more. But we gotta work on our catch-and-shoot, obviously. So that’s motivational to have that record and we still haven’t shot the ball great.”
The Lakers started off last season slow as well when it comes to 3-point shooting, so if their percentage normalizes like it did in 2024-25 then they could end up having one of the better offenses in the league with Doncic leading the way.
With Doncic beginning the season on a scoring barrage though, teams will likely continue to blitz him at a high rate to force other Lakers players to beat them.
Luka Doncic stresses need for Lakers to play with more physicality
One area that Luka Doncic believes the Lakers need to improve in is their physicality, although he was happy with how they responded in New Orleans coming off a rough loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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