The Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers 123-116 in a titanic clash at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday. While the likes of Stephen Curry and LeBron James shone on the night, Luka Doncic did not, and he took responsibility for the loss postgame.
“I think they were playing good defense,” Doncic said. “I think we didn’t play with enough trust, especially me. That performance from me is unacceptable. When I play like that, it makes for the team harder to win. So, just got to figure that out.”
Doncic had 19 points (6-17 FG), eight rebounds, seven assists, and a block against the Warriors. The 26-year-old has gotten off to fast starts in recent games, but had just four points on 2-8 shooting in the first quarter. It would prove to be a sign of things to come.
Doncic just never got going offensively, and the Warriors repeatedly hunted him on defense. The Slovenian might have some nightmares tonight about Curry, who had 37 points (10-21 FG), three rebounds, and six assists in the game, blowing past him time and time again.
To Doncic’s credit, he refused to use injuries as an excuse for his bad play. The five-time All-Star had hurt his left elbow in Monday’s 104-98 win over the Houston Rockets, but made it clear that it didn’t impact his performance.
“It’s always frustrating when you can’t help your team like that,” Doncic stated. “I think it’s not always about scoring. You can do some other stuff on the court, assist, rebound, defense, all of that, so trying to help in other ways.”
Doncic did do some good work on the glass and was an effective playmaker (only one turnover), but the defense was just abject. He is going to have to do better on that end of the floor, as teams are going to try to hunt him in the playoffs as well.
To be fair to Doncic, he played some solid defense in March to quieten the critics. He slipped up on a big stage here, though, and you can expect all the chatter about how his teams won’t win it all because of his defense to pop up again.
This loss snapped the Lakers’ two-game winning streak and dropped them to 46-30 this season. A win here would have put them in a great position to secure home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, but things have gotten a bit dicey now.
The fourth-placed Lakers are just a game ahead of the 45-31 Warriors now. They do have the tiebreaker after winning the season series 3-1, but can’t afford too many more slip-ups from here on out.
This result also increases the likelihood of the Lakers and Warriors facing off in the first round of the playoffs. That would be a fascinating series, but neither team would be all too keen on facing the other that early in the postseason.
The Lakers take on the New Orleans Pelicans next at Crypto.com Arena on Friday at 10:30 PM ET. Doncic dazzled with 30 points (9-19 FG), eight rebounds, 15 assists, one steal, and one block when the teams last met on March 4, and he’d be keen for a repeat.
