{"id":578326,"date":"2026-04-01T10:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/578326\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T10:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:21:09","slug":"out-like-a-lion-luka-totals-60-points-in-march-lakers-go-15-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/578326\/","title":{"rendered":"Out like a lion: Luka totals 60 points in March, Lakers go 15-2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dave McMenaminApr 1, 2026, 09:00 PM<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN.
\nCovered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09.<\/p>\n

Multiple Authors<\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES — After Luka Doncic<\/a> scored 42 points with 12 assists in the Lakers’ 127-113 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> on Tuesday, Lakers coach JJ Redick heaped major praise on his superstar for his performance in the month of March he just closed out.<\/p>\n

“I think Luka has had as good of a month as anybody that I can remember in the modern NBA, at least since I’ve been part of it,” Redick said.<\/p>\n

It was Doncic’s third straight 40-point game, lifting his March scoring total to 600 points – joining Michael Jordan in 1987 as the only other player to reach the mark in March, and one of only 10 players ever to score 600 points in any month.<\/p>\n

As dominant as Doncic was, so too were the Lakers, finishing the month with a 15-2 record.<\/p>\n

“If you don’t win, it doesn’t really mean anything,” Doncic said when asked about his scoring spree. “So the run we’ve been on, it means a lot.”<\/p>\n

For Doncic, who eclipsed 15,000 career points during the game, thoroughly outperformed Cleveland star Donovan Mitchell<\/a> — who finished with 10 points on 4-for-10 shooting and six assists — it was also another MVP-type performance.<\/p>\n

Only, he once again refrained from being his own advocate for the award.<\/p>\n

“I never did that [in the past],” Doncic said. “I’m not the one voting … But I think I’ve been playing pretty good. We’ve been winning. So that’s it. That’s all I got to say.”<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

1 Related<\/p>\n

The win over the Cavs was notable for more than just Doncic.<\/p>\n

It was the 1,229th win of LeBron James’ career — between the regular season and the playoffs — passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most wins by any player in NBA history.<\/p>\n

It was also the 100th win of Redick’s coaching career — as he became the first Lakers coach since Phil Jackson to guide the team to 50 wins in back-to-back seasons.<\/p>\n

“Don’t deserve to be mentioned along with Phil or Pat [Riley] or any of those guys,” Redick said. “I’ve got a lot left to accomplish for sure. … I’ve had the same [coaching] staff for the most part both years. I think just we are resilient and we’re resolved.”<\/p>\n

And they are almost at the finish line to the regular season, clinching a playoff berth Tuesday with six games remaining.<\/p>\n

Two of those six games are against the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>, starting Thursday on the road.<\/p>\n

Just like Cleveland beat L.A. by 30 earlier in the season and this improved version of the Lakers exacted some revenge on Tuesday, the Lakers will have a chance to make up for two losses to the Thunder so far this season – including one loss by 29 points.<\/p>\n

And as hot as Doncic and the Lakers were in March, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> and the Thunder went 14-1 with the reigning MVP averaging 30.7 points on 56.8% and 6.6 assists for the month.<\/p>\n

“Very exciting [matchup],” Lakers guard Austin Reaves<\/a> said. “Obviously they’re the defending champs. Playing at a high level, obviously one of the best teams in the league, if not the best team. And we have an opportunity to go into OKC and battle them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave McMenaminApr 1, 2026, 09:00 PM CloseLakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. Covered the Lakers and NBA for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-578326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}