After a blowout win against the Houston Rockets, Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers have clinched the third seed in the Western Conference and now await the postseason. By acquiring Doncic, expectations have skyrocketed as championship hopes are back in L.A.
There have been hiccups along the way, but head coach JJ Redick continued to keep his players bought in. March and April have presented challenges in terms of high-caliber opponents, but the Lakers continued to pick up necessary wins to get to this point.
Heading into the playoffs, the Lakers know they can count on Doncic and LeBron James as they historically are two of the best postseason performers. Doncic spoke about how difficult it will be to stop them, in addition to needing everyone to contribute if they want to win a title.
“Yeah, like I said, it’s gonna be hard to stop us, but it’s not just me and LeBron,” Doncic said. “We have a great team around us, everybody helps us in so many ways. So if we wanna win the championship, it’s gonna take all of us.”
Since 2020, the Lakers have had a lot of roster and staff turnover with them falling short of expectations. But this year breathed a breath of fresh air. Ideally, each season is a championship or bust year for the Lakers and Doncic echoed that sentiment.
“Yeah, obviously. That’s gotta be our own goal, and that’s our only goal,” Doncic said of winning a title. “I think we have the team to do it, but everybody’s locked in, they’re a hard team to beat, so that’s our goal.”
Early expectations are either the Minnesota Timberwolves or the Golden State Warriors matching up with L.A. in the first round. Regardless, a challenging matchup awaits and everyone needs a chance to rest and prepare accordingly.
To buy this much rest for both Doncic and James should only do wonders, especially for LeBron as he is 40-years-old and in his 22nd season. For the Lakers newest star, he gets a chance to decompress from a whirlwind of a season, especially after making his return to Dallas recently.
Overall, it has been a wild regular season, but also a testament to players and coaches buying in. Hopefully, L.A. can take advantage of time off while looking to make a deep postseason run.
Luka Doncic appreciated love in return to Dallas but concluded ‘it’s time to move on
To be traded mid-season is never easy, especially for Luka Doncic, who thought he was going to be a Dallas Maverick for life. He made his highly anticipated return to Dallas and showed out with 45 points in a Lakers victory.
All in all, Doncic appreciated all the love he received but acknowledged that “it’s time to move on.”
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