Luka Doncic poured in a season-high 53 points Friday night as the Los Angeles Lakers came back to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 124-118, as reported by ESPN. It was payback, too: Portland handed the Lakers their first loss of the season last month, 136-129, even with Luka putting up 41.
The moment everybody is going to replay came right before halftime. Luka let one fly from around the opposite three-point line, a heave ESPN measured at 62 feet, and it dropped at the buzzer. ClutchPoints called it what it was: insane. ESPN said that shot keyed the comeback.
The Kobe Company
Friday was Luka’s fourth straight 40-point game. That puts him with Kobe Bryant, Elgin Baylor and George Mikan as the only Lakers ever to do it in the regular season, as first noted by ClutchPoints. Per ESPN, he already has six 40-point games and two 50-point games this season, and 11 career 50-point nights.
Lakers coach JJ Redick summed it up: “Luka can do some things that maybe a handful, if not no one, can do in basketball.” Blazers coach Micah Nori went further: “[Doncic] is the MVP right now.”
Luka himself kept it calm. “We’re 10 games in. We’ve got 72 left,” he said.
The IAHHM Take
We said it during Wemby’s 43-point night last week and we’ll say it again: this early-season MVP race is must-watch TV. Luka is scoring at a pace the league hasn’t seen in decades, and he’s doing it with the kind of shot-making that turns into a highlight reel by morning.
The real question is staying power. Kobe had nights like this for 20 years. Can Luka keep this pace for 72 more games, or is this the hottest stretch of his career? Let us know where you stand.
Source: ESPN, ClutchPoints
