Going into the season, many pundits thought the Los Angeles Lakers’ best starting lineup would be Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Marcus Smart LeBron James and Deandre Ayton.
Before the All-Star break though, that group had started zero games together. Injuries were a big factor in that, plus JJ Redick trying out other lineups.
When the Lakers took the court for the second half of the season against the L.A. Clippers though, that was the five-man group they started with. The early results were promising as the Lakers scored 41 points in the first quarter, making 16 of 19 shots and 8 of 9 from deep.
After the game, Doncic discussed what went right in that first quarter.
“Definitely. I think in the first quarter, we were playing good defense, and we were playing with a lot of pace,” he said. “We were able to create some different looks, and I think that is how we should play.”
Obviously that type of shooting wasn’t sustainable for a full game, but the Lakers still escaped with a 125-122 victory to improve their record to 34-21 on the season.
Doncic got off to a hot start with 15 points in the first quarter and wound up finishing with 38 to go along with six rebounds, 11 assists, three steals and one block.
The Lakers’ starting lineup actually struggled after the first quarter as they had a -7.7 net rating together as a group in 18 minutes, but Doncic still liked what he saw from that unit.
“I think it was great. Obviously we got the win. I think we started, the first quarter was great. In the second, they came back a little bit. But I think it’s a very good lineup for us,” Doncic said.
A one-game sample isn’t gonna say much, so hopefully the Lakers can stay healthy moving forward so that group can build some chemistry and continuity playing together to see if they are Redick’s best unit.
The Lakers have tested out numerous lineups this season, but the goal is for one to stick going into the playoffs and this could be it.
Luka Doncic reportedly supported Lakers’ trade deadline approach
It was a relatively quiet trade deadline for the Lakers as the only move they made was swapping out Gabe Vincent for Luke Kennard. Their priority was to maintain their assets and cap space to take a big swing in the summer, which is an approach that reportedly was supported by Luka Doncic.
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