Luka Doncic tallied his highest-scoring game as a Laker last night, but that wasn’t the part of the box score he wanted to draw attention to.
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Particularly since his NBA Finals appearance last season, the Slovenian superstar has faced a lot of criticism for his defensive intensity. He admitted, “I take pride in my defense too,” during the Mavericks’ first-round series against the Clippers in 2024.
It certainly remains a matter of pride for him this season, as Doncic ensured that his head coach gave him props for his work on that end of the floor last night. “Did you talk about my steals?” the 25-year-old asked JJ Redick in the hallway after Saturday’s game against the Nuggets.
Caught a funny moment heading to the Lakers locker room after JJ’s presser. Luka is lifting weights or something in the hallway and he sees JJ coming his way and says: “Did you talk about my steals?” with a huge smile on his face — Priceless! Doncic had four steals tonight
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) February 23, 2025
Luka led the Lakers past the second-seeded Denver Nuggets with a 32-point performance. However, along with 10 rebounds and 7 assists, he also tallied 4 steals and 1 block at Ball Arena, which he wanted Redick to highlight during the post-game presser.
It may have slipped the rookie coach’s mind, but to be fair, there were other positive elements to Doncic’s game that Redick spoke about. “He was great. He controlled the game when he had the ball in his hands. Made some great decisions,” JJ told reporters.
The Slovenian easily recorded his best performance for the Purple Gold during the Lakers’ 123-100 win in Denver. It was much needed too, given that the Nuggets were on a 9-game win streak coming into the matchup.
Perhaps Doncic’s arrival will also mark a turning of the tide against Denver for the Lakers. Nikola Jokic and his team have beaten the LA side in 13 of their previous 14 encounters, including two pivotal Playoff series.
Luka could be the piece that creates more favorable advantages in this lopsided rivalry. We’ll have more opportunities to find out as two of the Lakers-Nuggets regular season matchups are scheduled for the month of March.
If Doncic & Co. can carry forward the same defensive intensity from last night, it will certainly make for a competitive showdown. Their active hands and commitment on defense forced the Nuggets into several mistakes last night, including 22 turnovers.
The Lakers scored 39 points off of those mistakes subsequently leading to a 33-9 advantage in fast break points as well.
“I think our defensive effort was there from the beginning. We were the more physical team, and that’s what we need to do every night,” Doncic reflected after the win.
Redick and his team must have been delighted to hear this. Luka simply needs to commit to becoming an average defender for the LA side to break free from their shackles. Even just two games ago, he was exploited by the Charlotte Hornets, who hunted for switches and attacked the Slovenian for easy points in the paint.
