Luka Donsic spent a rough night during the Los Angeles Lakers’ defeat to the 116-123 Golden State warrior.
The Los Angeles Lakers fell into a 116-123 defeat to the Golden State Warriors and fell to the fourth seed in the West. LeBron James and Austin Raves spent a 30-point night, while Luka Donsic was behind in a 6-17 shooting with 19 points.
Luka had a significant share of impressive performances in LA, but he also had his struggle. He is still adapted to playing with LeBron and Reeves, but it won’t take two weeks to begin the playoffs.
Donsic had an elbow injury, but his performance against Golden State was jarring. He had one of the worst defensive outings of his career while his shots hadn’t fallen. He also beat a two-year streak of winning against the Warriors, making at least one 3 pointer per game for 0-6 nights.
This loss won’t have the magical Johnson he’s as excited about for the Lakers as ever, but it could cause a change in Don Sic.
Luka Donsic faced music when she sat down to talk to the media at a post-match press conference. He admitted that he was negligent due to the Lakers’ loss and called his performance unacceptable.
“I think they were on a good defense. I don’t think we, especially me, and especially we played with enough trust.
“That performance from me is unacceptable. Do you know? If I play that way, it’s hard for a team to win. You just need to understand that.”
Donsic looked out of some sort all night. He had a great night at the free throw line (7-7 FTM) with eight rebounds and seven assists, but his score was a big mistake.
His poor performance blew the team’s momentum through running and stretch.
Luka averaged 26.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.9 assists in LA wasn’t bad. However, he is shooting from the field, between 3 and 35.1% are concerned. He averaged 33.9 points at 48.7% off the field last season, so there’s a clear regression the Lakers must deal with right away.
The loss was a brutal blow to the Lakers’ hopes of securing a top four species in the West. They entered the night as the number three seed, but fell to 0.5 games behind the Denver Nuggets. The loss to the Warriors brought them to the No. 5 seed and in-game for the Lakers.
They wanted to secure a second seed, but it’s not ridiculous to imagine them falling below number 6 due to the very competitive pack behind them.
The Warriors are one game behind the Lakers, while the sixth seeded Memphis Grizzlies and the seventh seeded Minnesota Timberwolves are 1.5 games behind the 1.5 games. Even the number eight seed La Clippers are just two games behind them. The Clippers have recently been supported as a greater threat than the Lakers in the West.
The tricky schedule awaits the Lakers in two games next week with No. 1 Seed OKC Thunder. If Doncic continues to struggle, it’s easy to imagine them dropping these games, and the tracking pack can catch up with them.