Luka Doncic scored 40 points Wednesday night, becoming the third Los Angeles Lakers player to score 35-plus points in six straight games, joining Kobe Bryant and Elgin Baylor. The Lakers beat the Sacramento Kings 116-103 on the road.
After the win, Lakers coach JJ Redick said this is “probably” the hottest stretch of basketball he can remember from Doncic.
“This and March,” Redick said. “The entire month of March last year.”
A Comparison to Last Season
Last season, in 16 March games, Doncic averaged 37.5 points on 49.2% shooting overall and 39.2% from 3 on 12.8 attempts. That surge included a 51-point game in a home win over the Chicago Bulls and 100 combined points during a two-night road run against the Houston Rockets and Miami Heat.
Redick said that stretch was special. “He closed out Houston for the second win in three nights,” Redick said. “Then we went to Miami, got in at 4 a.m. and he had 60 [points]. That stretch was pretty magical.”
The current run statistically matches that stretch. Doncic scored 52 points in a road win over the Utah Jazz on Oct. 25 and followed with 41, 37, 45, 42 and 40 in his next five games.
Historic Streak
Doncic became the first player in NBA history to record six straight games with 35-plus points, five-plus rebounds, five-plus assists and five-plus made 3-pointers.
When asked whether he had ever been hotter, Doncic kept his answer measured. “Maybe,” he said. “I don’t know. I’ve had some good stretches in my career. Obviously, this could be one of the highest ones. But still some work to do.”
Fast Starts
Doncic has been scoring early in games. Against the Kings, he made jumpers from 16, 27, 29 and 30 feet during one second-quarter stretch, going on a personal 11-2 run that broke the game open. He finished the first half with 23 points.
It was the sixth consecutive game in which Doncic scored 20 or more points in the first half. He had done that once before as a member of the Dallas Mavericks in 2023. Allen Iverson did it in 2005. Those are the only such first-half streaks in the past 30 seasons.
Redick praised the second-quarter burst. “He comes down [in the second quarter] and makes three shots in a row that there’s only five guys in the NBA can make,” Redick said. “All of a sudden a tie ballgame is a nine- or 10-point lead. The team feeds off that.”
Lakers Pull Away
The Lakers did feed off it, extending their lead to as many as 18 points in a runaway win over the 1-7 Kings. Doncic finished with 40 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and the Lakers improved to 7-2 this season.
Lakers center Walker Kessler summed up the mood in the locker room. “You can call it a wave, you can call it a tsunami, you can call it whatever you want,” Kessler said. “He’s scoring the ball. If you want to call it a wave, we’re surfing the wave a little bit.”