Luka Doncic Is Making a Case for MVP as the Lakers Start to Look Like Real Contenders
Luka Doncic just scored 60 points versus the Miami Heat in what was the Lakers’ 8th win in a row and their 11th in their last 12 games.
They’re 20 games over .500 (45-25) and, for now, sit comfortably at the 3rd seed in the west.
The Lakers have started to turn some heads in the basketball world. For a while, the Lakers hadn’t looked like a team that was on its way towards a deep postseason run. They’ve dealt with numerous injuries all year and often times struggled to find consistent stretches of play.
Earlier in the season, the Lakers would routinely struggle against teams that were bigger, faster, and stronger than they were. While that still may be an issue against teams like San Antonio or Oklahoma City, they’re starting to beat those teams with similar archetypes.
What we’ve seen from them over the last 3 weeks is a whole new ball club, with a completely changed demeanor and approach.
There were also questions about whether or not the Lakers could, at the very least, beat some of the better teams in the league, and they’ve quickly put those conversations to rest. During this 8-game winning streak, they’ve knocked off the Knicks (45-25), the Timberwolves (43-27), the Nuggets (42-28), and the Rockets twice (41-27). They won each season series against the Wolves, Nuggets, and Rockets, securing tiebreakers over all three. Huge victories considering they’re directly competing with those teams in the standings.
Luka’s Otherworldly MVP Performances
Luka Doncic has undoubtedly played great basketball all year. We acknowledge he’s one of the best players in the world. Yet, he’s somehow managed to unlock a whole other level. During this 8-game winning streak, he’s had a 60-point game, a 51-point game, two 40+ point games, and four 30+ point games, including two triple-doubles. He’s also averaging 50% from the field, 42% from three, and 6.1 three-pointers a game in these last 8.
And that’s not all. On March 19th against the Heat, he broke the Lakers record for most threes in a single season, previously held by D’Angelo Russell, and the most 30-point games within the last 20 Laker seasons, according to the Lakers on X.
He also knocked down the game-winner versus Denver and hit the daggers in Houston and Miami.
Star in Your Role
Luka has been more than exceptional, but the team as a whole has stepped up and found a sense of connectivity. Marcus Smart has hit big shot after big shot down the stretch of games and shows consistent effort every single night. Austin Reaves can drop 25-30 points at any given time. LeBron James has openly embraced his role as the third guy on the team and is absolutely thriving whether it’s facilitating, diving for a loose ball, rebounding, defending, etc.
James, on March 18th in Houston, dropped 30 points on just 1 missed shot, 13-14 from the floor. He followed that performance up with a triple-double the next night in Miami, including 15 huge rebounds. DeAndre Ayton has recently been open and honest about accepting his role on this team and doing whatever is needed from him.
From reporter Benjamin Royer of the O.C. Register, Austin Reaves talked about LeBron’s leadership and how the three of them, LeBron and Luka, could’ve sat out against Miami on the second night of a back-to-back after landing at 5 am.
“I remember there was a timeout and JJ came over and said, ‘I know y’all are tired.‘ and LeBron was like ‘I’m not tired.’ So, I was like ‘I’m not tired.’ So yeah, follow the leader. When [LeBron] said he was playing, I couldn’t let a 41-year-old play and I don’t.”
The Lakers have found their identity and are cruising at the right time, hopefully swinging this momentum into the playoffs.
With 12 games left in the regular season, they look to hit the 50-win mark for the second year in a row, the first time the franchise has achieved that feat since 2009 and 2010.
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