Luka Dončić admits his play was ‘unacceptable’ in loss against Warriors 

On Thursday night, Luka Dončić put up a stinker of a performance in the Lakers’ loss against the Warriors, and he knows it.

With the Lakers hosting the Warriors on Thursday and Golden State coming into the contest red-hot, everyone needed to be on top of their game for Los Angeles to win.

Unfortunately, the team struggled offensively and lost 123-116, dropping down to the fourth seed in the West.

There weren’t many Lakers players who could say they had a good game, and Luka Dončić was not an exception. He struggled offensively, scoring just 19 points and going 0-6 from 3-point range.

That’s not good enough against a team like the Warriors.

“That performance from me was unacceptable,” Luka said. “When I play like that, that makes it harder to win, so just got to figure that out.”

Accountability from your stars is crucial. They are held to a higher standard, and that involves actions on the court and attitude off of it. It’s good that Luka can be so open about his shortcomings and acknowledge that it wasn’t enough to the media.

Luka was bad offensively, but his defense was also poor. The Warriors took advantage of him countless times and were able to penetrate inside the paint with ease.

With the postseason looming, the Lakers will need monster performances from Luka if they’re going to make a serious run this season.

As bad as his play was, and as much as Lakers fans detest losing to the Warriors, the season is far from over. There will be bigger games coming up and, believe it or not, more painful losses on the horizon than a regular-season defeat in April.

Disappointments happen, but what’s more important is how you respond after a game like this.

Luka knows this better than most. He is a superstar who has reached the highs of the NBA Finals and felt the lows of losing on such a stage.

Dončić said the right things after this loss, and with their next game against the Pelicans less than 24 hours away, expect Luka to show up and remind everyone who he is.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.