LOS ANGELES — Luka Dončić gave the Lakers a chance before halftime with a shot from beyond half court. In the third quarter, he helped turn that chance into control.
Dončić scored a season-high 53 points, including 20 in the third quarter, as the Lakers overcame a 16-point deficit to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 124-118 on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.
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The Lakers improved to 8-2 with their fourth straight win, avenging their Oct. 27 loss to Portland and earning their first NBA Cup win of the season.
It was Dončić’s fourth 50-point regular-season game as a Laker and the 11th of his career.
He has scored 361 points through his first nine games this season, the most since Wilt Chamberlain scored 472 (insane!) through nine games in 1962-63, according to the Lakers.
Dončić is now at an average of 40.1 points per game which ranks third in NBA history through a player’s first nine games of a season, behind only Chamberlain’s starts in 1962-63 (52.4) and 1961-62 (50.6), according to the team.
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“For now … I don’t have any words,” coach JJ Redick said of Dončić’s historic scoring surge.
Austin Reaves recovered from missing his first seven shots to finish with 25 points. Walker Kessler added 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Dončić contributed five rebounds and five assists.
The Lakers needed much of that production after an opening quarter in which they missed all 12 of their 3-point attempts. Portland made six of its 12 attempts from deep, building a 29-20 lead despite Dončić supplying half of L.A.’s points.
Redick had called an early timeout with Portland ahead 10-4 and the Lakers shooting 2 for 12 overall. The deficit eventually reached 16 in the second quarter, with Reaves unable to find his first basket until a runner ended his 0-for-7 start.
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Still, Redick saw reasons to trust the offense.
The shots began to fall toward the end of the second quarter that ended in Dončić’s longest bucket of the season.
Dončić banked in a heave from beyond half court at the buzzer (and I GOT IT!), cutting Portland’s lead to 60-53. The Lakers entered halftime within seven despite shooting 4 for 23 from 3-point range.
