LOS ANGELES — Yep, this just might work.
Amid the celebratory nature of the evening Monday night in downtown L.A. – T-shirts with Luka Doncic’s No. 77 draped over every seat, the newest Lakers superstar being introduced last among the starters with the blessing of LeBron James, and the presence of Doncic’s mentor, Dirk Nowitzki, on his personal opening night in Los Angeles – Doncic, and James, and Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura and the rest demonstrated that this could be an awfully fun team to watch offensively.
It is very much a work in progress, and the Lakers’ 132-113 rout of Utah probably wasn’t much of a testing ground. But also consider that this was Doncic’s first game since Christmas Day due to a calf injury, and the minutes restriction that Coach JJ Redick acknowledged before the game wasn’t a factor because the Lakers had such a big lead.
Doncic left the game for the last time with 3:07 left in the third quarter and the Lakers leading by 24. He played 23:33 and finished with 14 points (on 5-for-14 shooting and 1-for-7 from the 3-point line, which almost certainly will improve), plus five rebounds, four assists and a lot of plays that didn’t make the scoresheet but kept the offense moving.
(And we will refrain from belaboring the contrast: Doncic getting into the Lakers’ lineup, and playing with freedom and rhythm, a day or so after the Mavericks confirmed that Anthony Davis would be out about a month after getting hurt in his first game for Dallas. Sometimes the coincidences are just eerie.)
You could see it right away: Jaxson Hayes scoring off a lob from James on the first possession, and scoring off a lob from Doncic on the second. Doncic then tried another lob for Hayes on the third possession but it went awry.
There were some behind-the-back passes that misfired. There was also a Doncic putback off a miss from the corner by Dorian Finney-Smith, after Doncic had initiated the play. And there were two plays, early in the second half, with Doncic zipping the ball to James, and James passing the ball to first Hayes for a layup, and then to Hachimura for a corner 3-pointer.
Basketball people have been known to refer to these as hockey assists, but unlike that sport these don’t appear on the scoresheet. Still, we could see Doncic and fellow Slovenian Anze Kopitar of the Kings comparing notes at some point.
And there was the other highlight reel connection, shortly before the end of the first half: Doncic grabbing a rebound and firing a length-of-the-court strike to James for a layup and a 69-47 lead.
“I mean, you know, I’m not thinking to myself, ‘Oh, Luka passed to Jaxson, LeBron passed to Jaxson’,” Redick said. “I just think it’s good offense. Certainly as you review film and you start building out your database of things within this new group. You can start to look where you can create advantages consistently. …
“You know, it’s a process to build an identity. And it’s not something that is easy. And there are moments of pain and moments of frustration. I think our overall group buy-in is at a really high level. And I know Luka is motivated and Luka is a competitor.”
With the idea of two of the best players in the world on the same team, who can both score and facilitate, maybe it’s natural to look for flaws or examine how they’ll get in each other’s way rather than complement each other. And maybe we’re looking at it incorrectly.
“I just felt like they were very, very connected on both ends of the floor,” Doncic said of what he noticed from the team in the three games he had watched from the bench since the trade. “For me, it was just, I want to be there with them.”
James had two messages for Doncic on Monday. The first was a text early in the day that resulted in Doncic being introduced last in the starting lineup by longtime Lakers’ public address announcer Lawrence Tanter. Given the sort of guys who have had that honor during Tanter’s years at the PA mic – Kareem, Magic, Shaq, Kobe and most recently LeBron – that is a high honor.
“Shows what kind of person he is,” Doncic said. “He let me have my moment. Really appreciate it. … But from now (on), he’ll be the last one.”
The second one was picked up by ESPN’s courtside microphones shortly before tipoff, and it was LeBron encouraging Luka not to fit in, but to “fit out.” In other words, be yourself.
“For him to say something like that just was amazing,” Doncic said. “Gave me confidence. After that speech, it was chills. I was just happy to be part of it.”
This partnership is worth looking forward to. And when Indiana was in town on Saturday, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle – who coached Doncic for his first three seasons in Dallas – said he didn’t see a scenario in which this wouldn’t “work great.”
“As I’ve thought about all these events over the last few days, a couple of things strike me,” Carlisle said. “We’re talking about two guys who when they simply came into the world and started playing basketball, were expected to be guys that would have statues built for them. I mean, the level of expectation on these two guys is just, it’s just something that is just hard to fathom. And as I was around Luka more and more, I became much more aware of the kind of pressure that must be on him. And he just has such charisma, such ability, skill.
“He goes into a game, he just decides how the game is going to be played. And LeBron James does the same exact thing. These two guys are surgeons, you know, the way that they dissect games and they’re really both impossible to gameplan for. You have to decide how you’re willing to lose. That’s what it comes down to.”
Given that the Lakers are already on a roll – six straight wins and 12 of their last 14, with a rematch against the 12-40 Jazz on Wednesday in Salt Lake City leading to the All-Star break – just imagine the possibilities once LeBron and Luka get used to each other.
jalexander@scng.com
