Luka Doncic missed time this past week after suffering multiple injuries, with his leg and finger suffering some knocks. But Doncic returned to action on Friday night against the Memphis Grizzlies and did not miss a beat. His strong play continued on Sunday as the Lakers took care of business at home against the Miami Heat, 130-120, with Doncic finishing with 29 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists on the night for his first triple-double of the new campaign.
Doncic is on a tear, and it looks like all his hard work earlier in the offseason has been paying off in a huge way. In fact, 29 points, which is not a bad number whatsoever, is a huge step down from the level he was scoring at to begin the season. Still, Doncic now has 165 total points on the season, which is the most any Lakers player has scored through their first four games of the season, surpassing Kobe Bryant (146) and Jerry West (154) in the process, as per NBA.com/Stats on X (formerly Twitter).
With 165 points through four games to start the season, Doncic is averaging a bonkers 41.3 points per game on the year. Now it is very unlikely for the Lakers star to keep up this scoring pace all year long. No one other than Wilt Chamberlain has averaged over 37 points in a single season after all. But this is a huge indicator that Doncic should be in for a big season, especially when he has now become the Lakers' undisputed best player amid LeBron James' battle with sciatica.
It remains so perplexing that the Dallas Mavericks would give up someone of his caliber just so they could avoid some hypothetical issues that may come up. But the Mavs' loss is the Lakers' gain, and LA is certainly laughing all the way to the top of the West standings.
Luka Doncic can't buy a three, still leads Lakers to a victory
From the get-go, something was off in Doncic's shot on Sunday night against the Heat. He couldn't hit his patented stepback jumpers, and he finished the night having made just one of his 11 attempts from beyond the arc.
Even then, Doncic shot 8-11 from two-point range and he made 10 of his 12 free-throw attempts on the night. He finished with a team-high 29 points, as the Lakers managed to overcome subpar shooting nights from both Doncic and Austin Reaves (both shot 9-22 from the field vs. the Heat) to extend their winning streak.
