LOS ANGELES — While acknowledging he still has a ways to go, Luka Doncic has also made it clear that he’s slowly starting to feel like himself again.
That was evident early and often in the Lakers’ 108-102 over the Clippers on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
Doncic resembled his pre-left calf injury self when he made a pair of stepback 3-pointers over Clippers center Ivica Zubac, a familiar sighting from Donicic’s 6 ½ seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, setting the tone for the remainder of the game.
And the five-time All-Star, who turned 26 on Friday, helped make sure the 21-point lead the Lakers built up to the third quarter didn’t go to waste, knocking down a turnaround fadeaway midrange jumper over Kris Dunn to put the Lakers up 107-96 with just over three minutes left.
The Lakers went cold for the remainder of the game, with their only point in the final three minutes coming off Dorian Finney-Smith splitting a pair of free throws with 8.6 seconds left, which put the Lakers up 108-102, with the Clippers intentionally fouling.
Doncic finished with 29 points, nine assists and six rebounds. He shot 9 for 17 from the field, with his five made 3s on nine attempts being his most in a Lakers uniform. Doncic entered Sunday 14 for 58 from beyond the arc.
LeBron James had 17 points (6-of-17 shooting), nine assists and five rebounds, finishing one point shy of reaching 50,000 career points (regular season and playoffs combined).
Rookie wing Dalton Knecht scored 19 points and made five of his eight 3-point attempts – the most points and 3s he’s had in a game since the Lakers’ Jan. 28 blowout loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Finney-Smith finished with 11 points and three rebounds.
Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with a season-high 33 points on 13-of-23 shooting to go with 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the year.
James Harden added 13 points and eight assists but missed 10 of his 14 shots. Dunn finished with 15 points and four assists. Zubac had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double before fouling out late.
Clippers’ leading scorer Norman Powell, who missed the previous five games because of left patellar tendinopathy, briefly returned on Sunday.
He scored four points, making one of his five shots, in nine minutes before subbing out, with the team saying that Powell wasn’t going to return because of soreness in his right hamstring.
With Sunday’s win, the Lakers (38-21) moved into the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference standings, ahead of the Denver Nuggets (39-22) by percentage points, and ½ game ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies (38-22).