All the celebs, apart from one, confirmed out Thursday when the Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Golden State Warriors in a sport with playoff implications.
Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Austin Reaves scored over 30 factors, and Jimmy Butler made his imprint defensively, however the different star within the equation, Luka Doncic, was underwhelming.
Doncic shot a paltry 6-of-17 from the ground and, concerningly, took solely three photographs within the fourth quarter when the Lakers outscored the Warriors 39-35 and almost pulled off a come-from-behind win. The Slovenian was additionally not his ordinary maestro as a playmaker, ending with solely two assists within the fourth quarter and 7 total.
To the Warriors’ credit score, they denied Doncic the ball by way of traps, double groups or full-court stress. The star guard needed to cope with Butler, Jonathan Kuminga or Draymond Inexperienced each time he bought previous his first defender. He had completely no respite.
Doncic took full duty for the Lakers’ loss, downplaying that Golden State’s total defensive scheme was constructed round stopping him.
“That efficiency from me was unacceptable,” Doncic said. “Once I play like that, it makes it more durable for the staff to win, so I simply bought to determine that out…. It is all the time irritating when you may’t assist your staff. It is not all the time about scoring, you are able to do different stuff on the court docket and attempt to assist in different methods.”
Doncic’s efficiency was so poor {that a} 114-game streak of him making at the least one three-pointer was snapped.
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