MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Before missing three games because of a finger injury and a lower leg injury, Lakers star Luka Doncic was off to a historic start to the season.
And Doncic picked right back up where he left off Friday night, scoring 44 points and leading the Lakers to a 117-112 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies to kick off NBA Cup Group Play at FedExForum.
“I feel great, but obviously, if we get a win, I feel even better,” Doncic said. “That’s the whole point, trying to help the team to win. And sometimes it’s going to be scoring, sometimes other things.”
Doncic’s scoring total marked his third consecutive 40-point performance to open the season, following the 43 points he scored in the season-opening loss to the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 21 and the 49 points he had in the Oct. 24 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The 26-year-old Slovenian star, who also had 12 rebounds and six assists to go along with his 14-of-27 shooting from the field and 6-of-15 shooting on 3-pointers, became the second player in league history to begin a season with three consecutive 40-point games. Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain achieved the feat twice (seven games in 1962-63 season; five games in 1961-62 season) – an accomplishment that Doncic exclaimed “Jesus!” once he learned about the the statistic while sitting in the back of the room for coach JJ Redick’s postgame media availability.
Doncic is averaging 45.3 points (58.4% shooting, 35.1% on 3s), 11.7 rebounds and 7.7 assists this season.
“He just continues to get where he wants to go and he takes what the defense gives him,” Redick said. “He just seems very comfortable out there.”
Austin Reaves added 21 points, four rebounds and four assists for the Lakers, who moved to 4-2 for the season.
Jake LaRavia and Marcus Smart, both of whom played for the Grizzlies as recently as last season before being traded, embodied the impact on winning sentiment that Redick spoke about before the game.
“Marcus, Jake, everybody was locked in, especially in that second half,” Doncic said. “JJ talked to us [at] halftime that we need to be more physical and that’s what we did.”
LaRavia contributed 13 points, five rebounds, two steals and a pair of assists against the team that selected him in the first round of the 2022 NBA draft.
Smart finished with 12 points, four assists, three rebounds and a pair of steals.
“He was great,” Redick said. “The main point about physicality, I think he, along with a couple other guys, but he’s gotta be the leader of the physicality. He’s gotta set the tone and there were a lot of moments where he did that. But it made a big difference and then he just played really good on the offensive end, made some timely shots for us.”
Doncic’s 25 second-half points, 16 of which came in the third quarter, helped the Lakers overcome a second quarter when they were outscored 42-24, leading to the Grizzlies holding a 69-55 lead at halftime. Memphis outscored the Lakers 31-9 in the final seven minutes of the second.
“I didn’t raise my voice, at least I don’t think I did, but it wasn’t clean,” Redick said of his halftime message. “Not safe for work. But if I had to summarize it, we didn’t start the game playing hard, then we did, built an eight-point lead and then they went on a [31-9] run primarily with five guys on the court that just played harder than us.
“So we challenged them at halftime and it was like watching two different teams. [We] had some good moments from middle of the first quarter to middle of the second quarter and then it was just like we were like zombies.”
Lakers starting center Deandre Ayton (nine points in 17 minutes) didn’t play in the second half. He stayed back near the locker room after halftime, getting his back tended to by the Lakers’ medical team before rejoining the team on the bench during the fourth. Redick said Ayton was experiencing back spasms and was available to play in the fourth, but didn’t want to “risk it,” especially with the team rolling with Jaxson Hayes (seven rebounds, five assists and two points) and Jarred Vanderbilt playing well in the second half.
Ayton told reporters in the locker room that he was dealing with the back spasms Friday morning but wanted to play through it. He aggravated the back on an alley-oop attempt in the first half. Ayton said he expects to be available when the Lakers host the Miami Heat on Sunday.
Jalen Wells and Jock Landale led the Grizzlies with 16 points in a game in which star guard Ja Morant (eight points on 3-of-14 shooting) struggled. Jaren Jackson Jr. added 15 points and four rebounds for Memphis.
After hosting the Heat, which will be the first night of a back-to-back set, the Lakers will travel to Portland to face the Trail Blazers on Monday.