LOS ANGELES — Luka Doncic scored 53 points in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 124-118 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night, the latest entry in one of the most prolific starts in NBA history.
Doncic outscored Portland by himself 20-15 in the third quarter and hit a three-quarter-court buzzer-beater to end the first half, CBS Sports reported. The win pushed the Lakers to 8-2 and atop the Western Conference.
He is averaging 40.1 points per game. According to CBS Sports, the only other player to average 40 through the first nine games of a season is Wilt Chamberlain; the most Michael Jordan averaged over that span was 38.6 in 1986-87.
Doncic has scored at least 35 points in seven straight games, joining Kobe Bryant and Elgin Baylor as the only Lakers to do so, and has four straight 40-point games, matching Bryant, Baylor and George Mikan.
He has made at least five 3-pointers in seven straight games, five short of James Harden’s NBA record of 12. He is averaging six made 3s on 13.7 attempts a game and shooting 41.9% from deep, well above his career mark of about 35%, CBS Sports said.
His seven straight games with at least 35 points, five assists and five rebounds tie Oscar Robertson for the longest such streak in league history.
The Lakers’ defensive rating of 110.2 with Doncic on the court would rank in the top 10, according to CBS Sports, which noted that if the season ended today he would be the runaway MVP favorite.
Sources: CBS Sports. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Andy Hu humadethis / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
