Luka Doncic dominated as the Los Angeles Lakers blew out the Washington Wizards 142-111 at Capital One Arena on Friday. Doncic had a triple-double in the first half itself, and Lakers head coach JJ Redick marveled at his play postgame.
“It’s remarkable,” Redick said, via Spectrum SportsNet. “This is the second time it’s happened in his career. I think he just came out again with the right mentality, the right mindset. And I do want to reiterate just how decisive he was in everything he did. And really just bent the defense, and obviously, to get the defensive rebounds and get a triple-double is fantastic.”
Doncic had racked up 16 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists in the first quarter. It seemed inevitable that the Slovenian would get a triple-double before halftime, but he nearly failed to accomplish it, as he was at nine rebounds entering the final minute of the second quarter. He managed to get another in the final 10 seconds.
That meant Doncic had put up 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists in 19 minutes, which is just ridiculous. As Redick pointed out, though, this is not the first time the 26-year-old has put up such ridiculous numbers in the first half.
Doncic had recorded the first 25+ point first-half triple-double of the play-by-play era against the Utah Jazz on Dec. 6, 2023. He had 29 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists at halftime for the Dallas Mavericks back then. You wondered who’d be the next to do it, and turns out it was him again.
“The way Luka started the game was the perfect type of aggression, which was I’m gonna hunt and try to create advantages, and he was very decisive with that,” Redick stated.
Doncic’s exceptional play led to the Lakers entering halftime up 77-48. They’d lead by as many as 38 points on the night and cruised to victory.
With the Lakers up big, Doncic didn’t play in the fourth quarter. The five-time All-Star finished with 37 points (13-21 FG), 11 rebounds, 13 assists, and three steals against the Wizards.
As for Doncic’s co-star, LeBron James had 20 points (8-16 FG), three rebounds, six assists, and two steals. James had 14 points of his own at halftime, but was overshadowed by his teammate. He was asked about Doncic’s first-half triple-double postgame and kept it simple and short.
“He’s beyond special,” James said, via Lakers Nation.
That he indeed is. As for Doncic’s thoughts on his first-half performance, he stated postgame that it’s not as easy as it looks.
“It might look easy, but it’s not easy,” Doncic said, via Dan Woike.
It only looks easy because Doncic makes everything look easy on the court when he’s in full flow. He is very much an MVP candidate this season and will have a real shot at winning if the Lakers keep winning. They improved to 29-18 by beating the Wizards here, but are still 8.0 games behind the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-led Oklahoma City Thunder at the top of the Western Conference. They need to eat into that deficit for Doncic to win MVP.
The Lakers will take on the New York Knicks next at Madison Square Garden on Sunday at 7 PM ET.
