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LOS ANGELES — Luka Dončić has heard it all.
He can’t play defense. He’s a showman, a front runner, a whiny shot-chucker whose game isn’t conducive to winning. He can average all the stats he wants. It won’t translate to anything.
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Sunday night, in the Lakers’ 131-125 win over the Toronto Raptors, he proved that he’s more than what people say he is.
He’s just a great basketball player. Perhaps the best in the world.
Every time Dončić went to the free throw line on Sunday, he was met with “M-V-P” chants from the Crypto.com Arena crowd.
It wasn’t just the 45 points and eight 3-pointers that inspired the ovation. It was also the defensive engagement, the 15 rebounds (all defensive), five steals and three drawn charges over 35 minutes, each second more crucial than the next. It was the product of an initiative he set for himself ahead of this season.
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“Obviously I’m not the best defender in the NBA,” Dončić said postgame. “But I think this year I really took a step forward. Obviously people are going to talk what they want to talk. The media is going to talk what they want to talk, but my team knows that [and] I think that I’m better this year, and that helps the whole team.”
The ninth-year superstar entered Sunday’s game averaging a league-leading 36.2 points per game, a figure that’s only going up after another offensive onslaught. And yet, as he averages 43.8 points over his last four contests, it’s as much his defensive activity that’s inspiring the Lakers.
“He’s been awesome on defense,” head coach JJ Redick said Sunday. “Even his on-ball [pressure] throughout this early stretch of games has been really good in terms of containment. … He’s doing a great job just talking on defense beyond just the steals and the charges and the rebounding. Fifteen defensive rebounds. Just phenomenal.”
Players of Dončić’s offensive caliber, who are relied on as much as he is, are often less willing to sacrifice their bodies on the other end of the floor. But for Dončić, as quiet and mild-tempered as he is off the floor, standing in front of a driving opponent and risking his body in the moment…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/luka-don-taken-step-forward-064900140.html
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Publish date : 2026-11-02 06:49:00
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