The absurd 62-foot three-pointer Luka Doncic hoisted and made late in the second quarter Friday night seemed to ignite him, pushing him to even higher heights on the way to scoring 53 points.
Doncic especially went to work in the third quarter, scoring 20 points in that span in delivering the Lakers to a 124-118 win over the Portland Trail Blazers Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.
It was the second time Doncic has scored 50 points or more this season, his first time coming when he scored 52 points against the Utah Jazz on Oct. 25. It was the fourth time Doncic has scored 50-plus points as a Laker, passing LeBron James and tying George Mikan for fourth in franchise regular-season history.
Doncic contributed five rebounds and five assists to help the Lakers win their first NBA Cup game after losing the first one to the Golden State Warriors last week. The Lakers (8-2) moved into first place in the Western Conference by handing the Trail Blazers (6-2) their second loss.
Doncic is now averaging 40.1 points per game this season.
When the Lakers saw their 16-point lead sliced to four in the fourth quarter, naturally it was Doncic who saved them.
Lakers forward Jake LaRavia and Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson dive for a loose ball during the first half Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
His seven-foot floater with 27.7 seconds remaining gave the Lakers a six-point lead that stood.
Now everyone knows why Doncic is shooting a career-best from three-point range and why he practices those long-range threes all the time.
After Walker Kessler got a defensive rebound with 4.3 seconds left in the second quarter, he passed the ball to Doncic, who had nowhere to go with the Portland defense around him. So, Doncic just tossed up the three-pointer from the three-point line on the Portland side of the court that banked in as time expired. He looked at the crowd as he walked off the court for halftime.
Doncic finished the first half with 20 points and helped the Lakers trim a 16-point lead to 60-53 at the half.
It was a slow and ugly start for the Lakers in the first 12 minutes, especially when Doncic was called for a technical foul after he had been fouled.
It happened when Portland’s Jrue Holiday was called for a foul on Doncic with 6.5 seconds left in the first quarter. Doncic immediately was hit with a technical foul for throwing the ball at the official.
Doncic had 10 points in the first quarter, but he missed all three of his three-pointers. As a team, the Lakers went 0 for 12 from three in the first quarter. They were nine for 29 from the field, shooting 32.3% from the field.
Besides leading the NBA in scoring, Doncic is shooting his three-ball at an all-time high — 43.1%.
“Well, I think the biggest thing is he’s in the gym every day shooting,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said before the game. “He works … really simulating game-like shots. And I think some of it is he’s taking a lot of threes from the same spots. He doesn’t in general shoot a lot of corner threes, unless it’s like a low clock, based on out of bounds type thing.
“So, a lot of those threes are above the break and he’s made some step-back threes going right, which you know his bread-and-butter is the step-back going left. And I think at times guys that are really comfortable shooting off the dribble threes can sometimes hesitate on catch-and-shoot threes. And he’s just not hesitating. He’s just shot-ready at all times and it’s a nice rhythm that he’s been in even, yeah, going back to last year.”
Etc.
Redick explained why both Bronny James and Cameron Carr were assigned to the Coachella Valley Lakers.
“[The] messaging was very simple,” Redick said. “It’s just you guys need reps and you guys need to play.”
Redick said both James and Carr will be with the Lakers on the upcoming trip to Detroit, Atlanta, Milwaukee and Phoenix next week.
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