Slovenian guard Luka Doncic had a historic outing on Thursday, becoming just the fourth player in Los Angeles Lakers franchise history to record his ninth 40-point game of the season. Yet the Lakers fell to an undermanned Phoenix Suns team without Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks and Jordan Goodwin, suffering a 113-110 loss, their third straight defeat and fifth in seven games.
After the loss, three-time NBA champion Danny Green put Doncic on blast for not getting LeBron James, Austin Reaves and others involved enough in the offense. “We love these nights from Luka, but do we say take a little off to have more ball movement?” Green said in the postgame show, via LakersDaily.
“Maybe. … Luka had 40, let’s get 30 and see if Bron and Austin and other guys can get involved.”
Luka Doncic Called Out
Further to Green’s point, while Doncic attempted 21 shots and went to the free-throw line 12 times, James (16) and Reaves (12) combined for 28 shots, totaling 29 points. A similar trend can be traced back to the last two losses — Reaves attempted 10 shots in the loss to the Boston Celtics, and James took 13 against the Orlando Magic.
During the Lakers’ three-game losing streak, Doncic has averaged 22.3 shots, while James (16.7) and Reaves (12.7) have combined for 29.4. Incidentally, Doncic has the worst plus/minus during the stretch, with the Lakers getting outscored by 3.7 points.
Green also made a sound point about the Lakers’ lack of ball movement. JJ Redick’s team is 21st in the league in assists per game (25.2), but more concerningly, the Lakers rank No. 27 in passes made per game (269.0) and 28th in assists points created (63.3). In comparison, the Denver Nuggets average 14.9 more passes per game, and the San Antonio Spurs average 7.9 more points per game through assists.
Lakers Enter Tough Stretch
For a team with three notable playmakers like Doncic, Reaves and James, not to mention another ball-handler in Marcus Smart, those numbers are awful. Much like Green, many analysts believe Doncic’s playing style — the NBA’s scoring leader rarely passes early in a possession — doesn’t bode well for the Lakers’ offense.
Former NBA head coach Sam Mitchell recently opined that Doncic’s teammates must hate playing with him, as they’re typically at his mercy.
“Who really wants to play with Luka?” he asked on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
“If you’re a young player who wants to play basketball, run, cut, move, and play both ends of the floor, how are you going to feel when your best player, your star player, the player that has all the juice, doesn’t play defense? And nothing is said to him.
“And then everybody else is held to a different accountability. Everybody else has to play defense, run back in transition, and do all these things.”Former NBA head coach Sam Mitchell recently opined that Doncic’s teammates must hate playing with him, as they’re typically at his mercy.
“Who really wants to play with Luka?” he asked on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
Amid their ongoing struggles, the Lakers enter a brutal stretch over the next few weeks that includes away contests against the Warriors, Nuggets, Rockets and Pistons, besides a few home fixtures against the Knicks, Timberwolves and Cavaliers.
Unless they can fix their issues, the Lakers could fall into a play-in scenario in a hurry.
