Luka Doncic accomplished something special with the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.
The star guard scored 50 points for the first time with the team more than a year after being traded to Los Angeles, finishing with 51 points on 17-of-31 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds, nine assists and three steals. 8 of 9 free throws because that’s important right now.
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Overall, this is the eighth time in his career that Doncic has scored 50 points and the first time since scoring 73 points in the 2023-24 season. Before Thursday, his highest score with the Lakers was 49 points on October 24.
The Lakers defeated the Chicago Bulls 142-130 and took sole possession of third place in the Western Conference. Austin Reeves also had 30 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds, and LeBron James had 18 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick’s analysis of Doncic:
“He’s playing as well as anyone in the NBA right now. It’s probably not talked about enough, but I’ll talk about it.”
Of course, some Lakers fans might have preferred Doncic to score another 33 points to surpass Bam Adebayo’s historic 83 points on Tuesday night. Lakers commentators seemed furious that Adebayo surpassed franchise legend Kobe Bryant’s 81 points.
You can read more about it here.
