It sure is looking like the pairing of Luka Doncic and LeBron James is going to work out, doesn’t it? The Los Angeles Lakers are red-hot right now, and they won a heavyweight overtime slugfest with the New York Knicks last night to run their winning streak to eight games. The Lakers are second in the West and looking like legitimate title contenders.
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Most observers expected Luka and LeBron to quickly figure out how to play together since both have extremely high basketball IQs, but the speed with which they’ve meshed is ridiculous. The two combined for 63 points, 19 rebounds, and 20 assists last night, just two nights after combining for 64/16/21 against the Pelicans.
Luka looks like he’s fully over the calf injury that had kept him out since Christmas and slowed him in his first couple of games as a Laker. ESPN’s Bobby Marks lavished some high praise on the Slovenian superstar, saying this morning on Get Up that he sees him as a hybrid of two all-time greats.
“If I close my eyes, I can see a combination of Jason Kidd and Magic Johnson,” Marks said.
Those are two of the best point guards ever, but with the way Luka has taken over, it’s not a far-fetched comparison to make. He made a few unbelievable passes last night, and his shooting and scoring are back to where the Lakers expected it would be when they traded for him just over a month ago.
The Magic comparison is particularly apt because Luka just joined him on an exclusive list with his performance on Tuesday. That game saw him become just the fourth Laker ever to record 30 points and 15 assists in a game, joining Magic, Jerry West, and LeBron.
Luka Doncic is getting better with every game
Luka has now scored 29 or more in four straight games. Compare that to his first three games in purple and gold when he failed to crack 16 points, and the difference is night and day.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick was smart to ease Luka into the lineup, not only so that he could be careful coming back from his calf injury but so that he wasn’t simply given the reins on his first day.
Now Luka has proven to his teammates that he’s worthy of being their leader, as he’s been nothing short of incredible lately. Even better, the Lakers keep winning.
He scored the first five points of overtime last night, and he played relentless defense on those late-game possessions when the Lakers desperately needed a stop. This only serves to emphasize the question of what in the world was Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison thinking by letting him go?
Luka Doncic and the Lakers have been the hottest team in the West, and with every passing day, they’re looking more and more like serious contenders to make the Finals. What’s scary is that Luka and LeBron are only just scratching the surface of what they can do together.
