Things couldn’t have gone better for the Lakers this week.
Not only did they win, but they did so with pizzazz. LeBron James had multiple jaw-dropping dunks, Luka Dončić scored more baskets in the month than any Laker ever, and the Lakers find themselves already at the 50-win mark with six games left to play.
Even the South Bay Lakers are playing well, having just beaten the San Diego Clippers in the first round of the G-League playoffs.
The good times are here, and if they can keep it up and have a good 10
days, they can lock up the third seed in the Western Conference.
5 things I liked and didn’t like
1. Luka Dončić is MVP
The list of players performing better than Luka right now is zero. He scored 600 points in March, the second most ever by any NBA player. LA went 15-2 in the month and he punctuated it by dropping 42 points on the Cavaliers, the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Dončić is an offensive savant with the ability to do anything he wants, regardless of the opponent. He is competing with himself, and his only problem is figuring out which spots on the floor he wants to get his buckets.
Not only is Luka the NBA’s leading scorer, but he is also averaging 8.3 assists per game, fourth-most in the league. Defensively, Luka is one of the best at stealing the ball, averaging 1.7 per game, which is 13th in the NBA.
Elevating his game has the Lakers cemented as the No. 3 seed, and he should be in the MVP conversation if not the frontrunner. His coach JJ Redick knows it, Rui Hachimura knows it and soon we’ll see if the NBA voters do as well.
2. Lakers part of the Big 3 in the West
While the Western Conference race remains tight, a hierarchy has been established. The Thunder are No. 1, the Spurs are No.2 and the Lakers are No. 3.
LA is no longer bunched up with the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds. They’ve established they are the best of the bunch.
They have the better record than the Nuggets, Rockets and Wolves, and went 4-0 against them in the month of March. The Lakers continue to outperform these teams, having won nine of their last 10 games to start separating themselves from that pack.
By every metric, the Lakers have the edge over every team in the West except the Thunder and Spurs. And with two games set this week against OKC, LA can potentially make the claim that they are a problem for the best team in the NBA.
For now, though, it’s clear they are the third best. Anyone saying otherwise has an agenda.
3. Beating who is in front of you
This week, the Lakers played the Nets and the Wizards, two unserious teams. It wasn’t pretty basketball from the Lakers, but they got the wins they needed. Throughout this year, the Lakers made sure to beat the league’s bad teams.
They are 27-3 against teams below .500. The only team that has a better record against losing teams is the Thunder. Thanks to the Lakers winning the games they were supposed to, they were able to rack up victories while they got healthy and figured out the best lineups and who their rotation players were.
4. Rob Pelinka was right
All season long, Lakers haters and fans alike have complained about how poorly constructed the team was.
According to them, they didn’t have enough to be elite in the NBA. People used their 4-11 record against teams with a .600 or better winning record as evidence. They also pointed to LA’s poor net rating numbers and the struggles of the big three.
Now, all of that has flipped.
The Lakers have recently beaten the Knicks, Cavs, Rockets, Wolves and Nuggets, all teams above .600. This week, they had a net rating of +8.2 and the Luka, LeBron and Austin Reaves trio had a plus-minus of +28, making them the second-best three-man lineup for LA.
So, at what point does Lakers President of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka get credit?
In the summer, he got Luka to sign an extension and acquired the Lakers’ starting center via the buyout market. At the trade deadline, he got the Lakers some shooting by turning Gabe Vincent into Luke Kennard, and now they are about to enter the offseason with a ton of cap space, draft picks they can trade for a blockbuster deal and they are still competing for a title this season.
He never gets credit for anything he does. When things go well, there is always an excuse for why it was inevitable. And when transactions don’t work, or deals never happen, it’s an example of his glaring flaws as the head of the front office.
Pelinka has done a great job. The praise needs to be as loud as the disrespect, and right now I’m not hearing a peep.
5. Statement wins
LA has had a handful of statement wins in March, but their most recent one was very impressive. On the second night of a back-to-back, they took on the Cavs and beat them handily 127-113. They took over during the second quarter and never looked back.
It was a complete performance with Luka dominating offensively, and the defense holding Donovan Mitchell to just 10 points. It was encouraging to see the Lakers pass every test they faced in March. And if they do the same in April, they’ll be playing games in May.
Stat of the Week
The Lakers got to the 50-win mark this season, making Redick the fourth Lakers head coach to accomplish this feat. The last one to do so? Phil Jackson in 2011.
The fact that Redick has accomplished this in his first two seasons in charge is impressive. He has silenced his critics and his coaching has elevated the team.
Play of the Week
LeBron remains one of the most electrifying players in basketball. His dunk against the Cavs was one of the highlights of the season. It started with Deandre Ayton deflecting a pass from James Harden. LeBron recovered the ball and tried to pass to Reaves, but Harden deflected it.
Thankfully, Jake LaRavia regained possession and since Reaves never changed directions, he remained in front of the play. Reaves received the ball and had a two-on-one advantage over the trailing Mitchell, who made a business decision and decided not to get put on a poster.
Player of the Week
It has to be Luka.
He is just performing at a ridiculous level. He averaged a gaudy 41.5 points per game along with 7.5 assists and 6.5 rebounds over the last week. He had a plus-minus of +40 for the week. It’s hard to make a case that anyone is playing better than him in the NBA, much less on this Lakers roster.
Stories of the Week
Welcome to the NBA’s new A-League, B-League phenomenon. Is it here to stay? – Yahoo! Sports
With tanking becoming a topic of conversation, Tom Haberstroh wrote for Yahoo! Sports about how it’s splitting the NBA in half, with one side incentivized to win and the other incentivized to lose.
The B-League vs. The A-League
The chasm between leagues is obvious once you track the results. The only teams the Wizards have beaten since the All-Star break are the Indiana Pacers (twice) and the Utah Jazz — two members of the B-League, which means that for almost two months straight Washington has yet to beat a team that is not actively trying to lose.
For the Wizards, Friday’s loss to the Warriors, Sunday’s defeat at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers and Monday’s blowout loss to the Los Angeles Lakers extended their A-League losing streak to TWENTY straight games. That’s right: The Wizards have gone 0-20 against teams trying to win, having dropped every game against an A-League opponent since Detroit lost to the ‘Zards in early February.
MVP or not, Luka Dončić’s season is worth celebrating – Silver Screen And Roll
Alex Regla is here to remind us that, regardless of whether Luak wins the MVP, what he is doing is something no Lakers fan should take for granted.
What these numbers and the season Dončić is having ultimately prove is that the Lakers have one of the best players on the planet on their team. They have the cornerstone. The vision of their future now has a face and a name.
And while a physical reward at the end of it would be nice, the assurance Dončić provides is so much more valuable than any number on a spreadsheet or MVP trophy.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
