53 Points, Fourth Straight 40: Luka Doncic Joins Baylor, Bryant and Mikan as the Lakers Beat Portland 124-118
Luka Doncic scored 53 in his fourth straight 40-point game as the Lakers beat Portland 124-118, with the Blazers committing 24 turnovers.
53 Points, Fourth Straight 40: Luka Doncic Joins Baylor, Bryant and Mikan as the Lakers Beat Portland 124-118
Kicker: NBA
Photo: The Dyme.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Kessler collected the rebound with 4.3 seconds left in the first half and passed to Luka Doncic, who found nowhere to go and banked in a three from the Portland free-throw circle at the buzzer, cutting the deficit to 60-53. He finished with 53 points on 17-of-33 shooting, 5 of 15 from three and 14 of 18 at the line, plus five rebounds and five assists in 38 minutes, and the Lakers beat the Trail Blazers 124-118 on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena, per the ESPN box score.
That was his fourth straight 40-point game, which puts him with Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant and George Mikan as the only Lakers to do it in the regular season, per the Associated Press via ESPN. The Lakers are 8-2, and the question hanging over this start is how long a team can lean on one man for 40 a night and keep winning close games.
The shot that flipped the building
Doncic called the heave an energy play. "I think it changes the whole energy in the team and in the gym," he told reporters, per the Times. "I thought it was an important shot to make. So that's why I decided to make it."
The numbers back him up. The Lakers had trailed by 16 in the second quarter and opened the night missing their first 15 three-point attempts, per AP. During the third quarter, the Lakers scored 17 consecutive points. Doncic scored 20 in the third by himself, which was more than Portland's 15 for the whole quarter, per the ESPN line score and play-by-play. A 32-11 run pushed the lead to 16 early in the fourth, per AP.
Portland lost this with the ball
The Blazers shot better than the Lakers. Portland went 36 of 70 (51%) and 19 of 43 from three (44%), against 42 of 93 (45%) and 11 of 37 (30%) for Los Angeles, per the ESPN team stats. Portland lost anyway because it turned the ball over 24 times to the Lakers' 11. Los Angeles had 15 steals and 17 offensive rebounds and took 23 more shots.
Deni Avdija's line shows the whole problem. He had 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, and also eight turnovers. Damian Lillard scored 22 and went 8 of 8 at the line. Toumani Camara made 4 of 8 from three for 18, and Donovan Clingan added 17 and 11 boards. Late threes from Camara and Clingan got Portland back within four with 12.3 seconds left. Doncic's seven-foot floater with 27.7 left and his two free throws with 10.8 left held it off, per the play-by-play.
What the load looks like
The Lakers' supporting cast had a hard night shooting. Austin Reaves scored 25 but needed 22 shots and went 1 of 8 from deep. Collin Sexton went 0 of 4 in 11 minutes. Kessler (16 points, 12 rebounds on 7-of-10) and Sandro Mamukelashvili (plus-19 off the bench) were the steady pieces. The team had 17 assists. When the threes don't fall, the offense runs on Doncic getting into the paint and the line. The Lakers scored 52 points in the paint and went 29 of 37 on free throws.
Doncic is averaging 40.1 points through nine games, and his 361 points are the most to start a season since Wilt Chamberlain scored 472 in 1962-63, per Basketnews. It was his 11th career 50-point game, which passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and ties Allen Iverson for 10th in NBA history, and his fourth as a Laker, per the Times. Basketnews also has him at seven straight games with at least 35 points, five rebounds, five assists and five made threes, the first such run in league history.
He doesn't sound worried about the pace. Asked whether he could keep this up every game, he said, "Oh yeah, I feel like that. But as long as we win, I'm good," per the Times. Then he pointed out the obvious. "We're just 10 games in. We got 72 left."
That's the real test for the Lakers. A 40-point average can carry a team to 8-2 in November. Over 72 more games, nights like Reaves at 8 of 22 and a 30% team mark from three will decide whether the rest of the roster can take some of the weight before spring. On Friday, Doncic carried all of it, and the Lakers got an NBA Cup win. Next up is Detroit on Sunday.
Sources:
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