LOS
LOS ANGELES — Luka Doncic’s hot starts to games aren’t surprising.
Entering Sunday as the league’s leading scorer in the first quarter with 12.3 points, it’s almost become customary for Doncic to do heavy lifting for the Lakers early on.
And Doncic’s strong start against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena gave the Lakers the boost they needed, with the Lakers beating the Pelicans 133-121 for their seventh straight victory.
With LeBron James (left foot injury management) not available for the first game of the Lakers’ home back-to-back set, with the team hosting the Phoenix Suns on Monday night, Doncic (34 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists) paced the Lakers (15-4) early on, recording 20 points of his scoring total in the opening quarter.
It was the third time this season, and 14th time in his career, that Doncic scored at least 20 points in the first quarter.
“Obviously, Luka is one of the best first-quarter players – one of the best players in the league,” Austin Reaves said. “But obviously, first quarter, he comes out and sets a statement so he gets our offense rolling early.
Reaves added 33 points, eight assists and five rebounds, while Deandre Ayton had 22 points (7-of-9 shooting), 12 rebounds and four blocked shots against a short-handed Pelicans team that was without Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy III, Jordan Poole and Herb Jones.
Sunday was Ayton’s seventh 20-point-10 rebound double-double of the season. Ayton’s 71% field goal percentage is the league’s best mark among the 113 players who’ve played at least 10 games and averaged 10 field goal attempts.
“He’s always been able to produce,” Coach JJ Redick said of Ayton. “For him, his execution of what we’re trying to do on both ends has been really high, and he’s clearly developed a really good feel for playing with AR and Luka. And I’m really impressed just with his touch. Like when he gets the ball in that pocket, or he collects a loose ball or rebound, or he gets a post up in that sort of like 9-12 foot area, just got a great touch. And it’s another weapon we have, him scoring the basketball at a high efficiency in that area.”
With Sunday’s performance, Doncic and Reaves became the fourth duo in the league’s last 50 years to each score at least 30 points in three consecutive games. They entered the matchup as the league’s highest-scoring duo, averaging 63.6 points.
“He draws a lot of attention and then I’m able to play advantage basketball, basically, on the backside of that,” Reaves said. “The gravity that he has on the court, it’s impossible to guard him any certain way because of his ability to pass the ball, his unselfishness and his shot-making ability.
“Then, once you blitz him, you have advantage basketball and we like our chances. We got a lot of really good looks that we didn’t make, and we still scored 130, so I think this offense can go to another level.”
Doncic’s hot start helped the Lakers jump out to a 46-27 lead at the end of the first quarter, the most points the Lakers have scored in any quarter this season and tied for fifth-most points in a first quarter in franchise history. The Lakers led by as many as 26 (74-48) late in the second, taking a 77-57 lead into the second half.
But they took their foot off the gas, especially defensively, with the Pelicans (3-18) scoring 74 second-half points.
“We wanted to get off to a good start, we wanted to play with the right intent,” Coach JJ Redick said. “Thought we did that. Then the game got a little wonky with their junk defenses. And truthfully, sometimes you get a lead like that, and you can, I hate saying this, but teams can get a little bored. And that’s what we’re trying to get away from. Just continuing to be a process team and didn’t think we were great with that [on Sunday]. I didn’t think our defense was good for the last three quarters.”
The Pelicans outscored the Lakers 94-87 in the last three quarters, cutting their deficit to 11 (100-89) late in the third but the Lakers maintained at least a double-digit lead for the entire fourth.
“It’s nice to sit here and be 15-4 and be like, ‘Oh, the results are great,’” Redick said. “And we should be proud of being 15-4 after 19 games. It’s a great start. There’s a lot of slices of pizza left in the box that we can still get after. There’s a lot of room for improvement for our team. Which, to me, is a positive.”
New Orleans was led by Bryce McGowen’s 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Saddiq Bey had a 22-point, 11-rebound double-double, while rookie guard Jeremiah Fears had 21 points.
Ayton asked to be subbed out with 7:14 remaining after he and Pelicans rookie big man Derik Queen made knee-to-knee contact, with Ayton’s right knee taking a hit. Ayton sat out Tuesday’s win over the Clippers because of a right knee contusion he suffered in the Nov. 23 road win over the Utah Jazz.
“It cooled down after the game, so I’m good now,” Ayton said. “It wasn’t nothing crazy. I just really felt it right there, and at the same time, JJ called somebody up.”
After having six of their seven games during the winning streak come against teams with losing records, Monday’s matchup against the Suns will kick off a stretch of five consecutive games against opponents who have winning records entering the week.