Luka Doncic rediscovers his scoring touch, leading Lakers to win over Pelicans

[ad_1]

Lakers center Jaxson Hayes tries to keep the ball away from New Orleans Pelicans forwards Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Bruce Brown in the first half of the Lakers’ 124-108 win at Crypto.com Arena on Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Jaxson Hayes tapped Luka Doncic on the leg. Maxi Kleber walked by and quietly did the same. And Markieff Morris plopped down next to his teammate and put his arm on the back of Doncic’s chair.

The entire time the Lakers’ star guard just stared blankly ahead. The joy he brought since getting comfortable in Los Angeles disappeared, a miserable 0 for 7 first shift compounding upon a performance he called “unacceptable” the night before in a loss to the Golden State Warriors.

Advertisement

With the Lakers playing one of the worst teams in the league in the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, Doncic was getting scorched by pesky guard Jose Alvarado and was plainly frustrated.

But when he checked back in during the second quarter, the Lakers had found a little footing and traces of rhythm, and he cut backdoor to score his first basket on an easy layup.

Read more: Lakers show fight, but Luka Doncic’s ‘unacceptable’ struggles prove costly in loss to Warriors

The Lakers weren’t perfect the rest of the way in a 124-108 win in their penultimate home game of the regular season, but they certainly weren’t smothered in the dark cloud that covered Doncic for much of the previous two games.

Advertisement

And as they worked their way through his slump, the Lakers did the kind of things they’ll certainly need in bulk as they prepare for back-to-back games against the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder.

The game came amid discussion surrounding a worrisome stat for the Lakers (47-30) — the team actually had been outscored by 24 points in the 320 minutes Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves had shared the court.

“I don’t make a ton of it,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said before the game. “I don’t think the expectation, at least internally for us, was we’re going to be the 2016-2017 Warriors or this year’s Oklahoma City Thunder. We didn’t expect that. So the disjointedness of an in-season…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/luka-doncic-rediscovers-scoring-touch-051134940.html

Author :

Publish date : 2025-04-05 05:11:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.