Luka Dončić is the NBA’s leading scorer, so his putting up points for the Lakers isn’t typically a tale worth telling.
But he really outdid himself on Thursday night against the Heat. He was originally listed as questionable to play in the contest due to right hip soreness.
Considering that the game against the Heat was the second leg of a back-to-back, no one would’ve blinked an eye if Luka took the game off to get his body right.
However, Luka pushed through and didn’t just suit up for the Lakers,
he was the star of the show.
Dončić scored a whopping 60 points, extending LA’s win streak to eight and scoring more on the Miami Heat than any player ever has.
After the game, Lakers head coach JJ Redick praised his superstar’s efforts.
“It was a superhero performance,” Redick said. “I thought him really keeping us afloat early was really important. And then all the groups there in the second quarter really did a nice job. The group that started, obviously, the second half that got us the lead was great. But he just made big shots, he made tough shots, made a lot of right reads. When he gets it going like that, some of it is you just kind of let him go.
“His teammates felt that. They saw that. We look for some advantages in some places. The Horns Chin Clear that we ran for the off-ball three was just a big time screen from [Ayton], a big time pass from LeBron and a big time shot from Luka. I thought that was one of the bigger buckets he had. But then had the crazy stepback three in front of their bench. I mean, you just go down the list. The shotmaking was unreal tonight.”
The way Luka got his 60 was incredible. Only 15 of his points came from the free throw line and many of his shots were difficult.
According to the NBA’s tracking data, most of his shot attempts came after multiple dribbles. He took 10 shots with 3-6 dribbles and converted 70% of them. And he went 5-10 on the shots where he took seven or more dribbles.
And the player Luka scored the most against? That would be Heat All-NBA defender Bam Adebayo. Dončić scored 22 points over him, going 7-9 from the field.
At this point in his relatively young career, nothing Luka does should shock anyone.
But he raised his level to another stratosphere. He is the first Laker to score 60 since Kobe Bryant did it in the last game of his career. Luka is leading the league in 40-plus games at 13 and, due to him hitting nine threes against Miami, he is now the franchise leader in 3-pointers made at 232, surpassing the record set by D’Angelo Russell.
He may have been a superhero on Thursday, but the Wonder Boy always has the ability to make an ordinary game into an extraordinary one.
It’s what makes him a generational talent and why the future in LA looks brighter by the day.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
