It’s like déjà vu all over again: Luka Dončić scored at least 40 points and the Los Angeles Lakers ran a dynamic offensive attack to victory.
For the fifth time in six games, Dončić eclipsed the 40-point mark in Los Angeles’ 116-103 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. The only “hiccup” during this stretch was a 37-point outing against the Golden State Warriors on Friday. Over this period, the Slovenian is averaging 42.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 1.8 steals while shooting 63.3% on 2-pointers, 44.9% from beyond the arc (14.8 attempts per game!) and 89.7% from the charity stripe.
He’ll hit deep step-back triples, work his way to trick and feathery shots, draw tons of fouls while still being the best teammate for easy shots with one-of-a-kind passes. Every Lakers game is a spectacle hosted by Dončić – and the supporting cast knows it.
“You can call it a wave, you can call it a tsunami, you can call it whatever you want,” Walker Kessler told reporters Wednesday after the Lakers’ third straight victory. “He scores the ball. If you want to call it a wave, we’re kind of riding the wave when he makes those shots. I mean, he’s amazing.”
With 308 points in eight games, Dončić became the first player since Michael Jordan (303 points) in 1988 to total more than 300 points in the first eight games of the season, according to NBA statistics. He also recorded his sixth straight game with at least 35 points, five rebounds and five assists to pass Damian Lillard for the longest such streak in league history.
Every night, he takes control of the action like few others can. In fact, no one else in the Association can do it like him right now. He dominates another world and continues to etch his name in an increasingly rarefied society.
“You felt that in the second quarter,” head coach JJ Redick said after the game Wednesday. “I thought, again, we were generating good looks, and then he goes down and he makes three shots in a row that five NBA guys can make and all of a sudden the tie game is nine or 10 points ahead. The team feeds off that, too, when it plays out like that.”
Gn sports
