The Los Angeles Lakers got a big win against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night, and it was Luka Doncic who played one of his best games since joining his new team. Doncic is known for what he’s able to do on the offensive end, but on that night, he had his hands in the cookie jar and grabbed four steals.
After the game, head coach JJ Redick and Doncic had a funny exchange about his play on defense.
“Luka, it’s good to have you f—— back,” Redick said.
“Four steals,” Doncic said.
“First team All-Defense. First team All-Defense,” Redick replied.
The knock on Doncic for years is that he isn’t the best defender, and his lack of conditioning was allegedly one of the reasons why the Mavericks decided to trade him. It’s just one game, but Doncic showed his commitment on that side of the ball, and if he can continue to do that, he’ll be just fine.
Luka Doncic finding a groove with Lakers
In Luka Doncic’s first few games with the Lakers, it was obvious that he was still trying to find his footing on the team. The shooting struggles were real, and it looked like, most of the time, he was trying to get into a rhythm. In their game against the Nuggets, all of his struggles went away, and Doncic went back to the player that we all knew him to be when he was on the Mavericks.
After the game, Doncic noted that Redick told him that he wanted him to have a blackout moment, and he accepted the challenge.
“JJ [Redick] told me, ‘You gotta have one of that blackout moment you have.’ So I think I had one. Just felt like me a little bit so I was happy,” Doncic said.
The Lakers are still among one of the top teams in the Western Conference, and if Doncic plays like he did against the Nuggets, they’ll be fine when the playoffs arrive. Redick has the gameplan for the Lakers moving forward, and it involves a heavy dose of Doncic.
“JJ Redick said that the Lakers’ offense needs to run through Luka Doncic’s hands, with LeBron James and Austin Reaves running it more when they stagger the primary ball handlers,” Jovan Buha of The Athletic reported.
Everything seems to be clicking for the Lakers right now, and it doesn’t look like much can slow them down. They’ll only get better as well with Doncic still getting acclimated to the team.
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