The Los Angeles Lakers have split their first two games with their newest superstar Luka Doncic as the Utah Jazz got back at them 131-119 on Wednesday, Feb. 12 in Salt Lake City.
Doncic finished with 16 points, four assists, four rebounds, one steal and a block in 23 minutes in the blowout loss. While he was productive in the limited minutes, his erratic play showed some rust as he committed five turnovers, shot 6-of-13 from the field and missed four free throws.
“Today I felt a little bit rusty,” Doncic told reporters after the game. “Two games since after my injury — turnovers, missed free throws. I got to do way better. I think we, approaching this [All-Star] break, so we got to rest. For me, I think it’s more of mental rest than anything else. But I still got to work. So, I’m excited about this break and I can’t wait to go back to play.”
All-Star Break Plans
It has been a whirlwind week for Doncic since the most shocking trade in NBA history that saw his seven-plus year run in Dallas unceremoniously end last week. He had no time to process the trade that he didn’t see coming.
Doncic will not participate in the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities in Golden State after he did not make it to any of the All-Star teams. It will mark the first time in the last six editions of the midseason classic that Doncic isn’t an All-Star.
Doncic drew 2,034,326 votes from the fans, the third-most among guards in the Western Conference and fourth-most among all NBA guards. But he only ranked fourth among Western Conference guards in the media voting. Then the coaches did not select him as a reserve after he missed 22 games before his trade to the Lakers due to his calf injury.
So, he welcomes this six-day break to recover from his physical injury and more so with the mental pain caused by the shocking trade.
“Like I said, just mental break for me,” Doncic added. “Work out and just trying to have some fun with the family.”
Luka ‘Still Getting Back Into Rhythm’
In two games with the Lakers, Doncic put up 15.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists against 3.0 turnovers in 23.5 minutes. He’s only shooting 40.7% from the field, 26.7% from the 3-point line and 50% from the free-throw line.
Despite his rusty game, Doncic is giving himself a pass.
“It’s good,” Doncic said. “Still getting back into rhythm. You can’t really practice that five on five stuff. It’s way different in the game but I’m just happy to be back out there and trying to win and trying to play games.”
The 1-1 split against the Jazz in Doncic’s first two games did not reveal so much because of his minute restriction and the quality of the opponent. But Doncic was encouraged by what he saw in those games.
“I think we can we can go very far,” Doncic said. “The first game against them showed the way we can play, the way we move the ball. Everybody was connected on both sides of the floor. Today wasn’t our best game, so we got to work on that.”
Doncic was referencing their 132-113 rout of the Jazz on Monday, Feb. 10, that marked his memorable Lakers debut.
The Lakers will get back into action on Feb. 19 at home against the Charlotte Hornets, their first meeting since the rescinded Mark Williams trade.
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