The Los Angeles Lakers picked up one of their biggest wins of the season on Saturday night by blowing out the Denver Nuggets, 123-100, on the road. Perhaps the most important part about it though is that Luka Doncic had his breakout performance in a Laker uniform.
To his own accord, Doncic felt rusty in his first three games with the Lakers and struggled greatly offensively. He broke out of that mini-slump with a strong first quarter against Denver and carried that all the way throughout, leading all scorers with 32 points on 10-of-22 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds, seven assists, foul steals and a block.
After struggling to start his Laker career, Doncic admitted he felt like his usual self in the win over the Nuggets.
“Honestly, I think you could see it with me smiling on the court and having fun,” Doncic said. “JJ told me you gotta have one of those blackout moments like you have. I think I had one. I just felt like me a little bit, so I was happy.”
A performance like this will only help Doncic and the Lakers build confidence moving forward.
“Great confidence. I don’t remember when was the last time I won here, it’s very tough to play here against that team. So to win like that, it’s an amazing win for us and gives me a lot of confidence moving forward.”
It’s no secret that the Nuggets have had the Lakers’ number in recent years, but that was before Doncic got to the team. He understands how hard it is to beat Nikola Jokic and Co., especially in Denver, but L.A. was able to come out on top in this one.
“Big time. Like I said, it’s very hard to win here and playing against these guys, I think our defensive effort was there from the beginning. We were the more physical team and that’s what we gotta do every night,” Doncic concluded.
Luka Doncic discusses Lakers offensive being run through him
The Lakers offense ran through Doncic for the first time in the win over the Nuggets and JJ Redick said he expects that tp be the case moving forward. Doncic gave his thoughts on what that will look like once he’s fully up to speed.
“Like I said every day is gonna get better,” Doncic said. “I’m getting to learn the plays, everybody has different names, but I’m getting to learn that. Us three, I think it depends on the day. Everybody has so much talent so I think today the way we shared the ball was amazing and the ball movement was amazing.”
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