LOS ANGELES \u2014 The Lakers, for the first time in what\u2019s felt like months, couldn\u2019t get Luka Don\u010di\u0107 a bucket.<\/p>\n
Coming out of a late fourth-quarter timeout, they got Don\u010di\u0107 the ball on the low left post, but he got stopped at the rim. The next touch, the Chicago Bulls sent a triple-team, surrounding him and forcing the pass.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne more?\u201d JJ Redick asked Don\u010di\u0107 as he grabbed his shorts at his knees. Don\u010di\u0107 nodded and stayed in the game.<\/p>\n
The next possession after another double-team forced the ball out of his hands, Don\u010di\u0107 looked over to the Lakers\u2019 bench in surrender. His substitute, Jake LaRavia, walked towards the scorer\u2019s table. But with one final chance, Don\u010di\u0107 drove at the Chicago defense, forcing Rob Dillingham into a foul and earning himself two free throws.<\/p>\n
In a lot of ways, these were the hardest points Luka Don\u010di\u0107 scored all night \u2014 his nemesis for the night already on the Bulls\u2019 bench having been soundly beaten by the NBA\u2019s leading scorer.<\/p>\n
The two free throws were the final tallies on Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s 51-point game that led the Lakers to a 142-130 victory against the over-matched Bulls. In two games against Chicago this season, Don\u010di\u0107 has scored 97 total points.<\/p>\n
It was Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s highest scoring game as a Laker and his first with at least 50. He\u2019s scored at least 50 seven times in his career.<\/p>\n
Don\u010di\u0107 scored 12 points in the first quarter, but missed a reverse layup late. After the play, he stayed on the opposing baseline and kicked at the air out of frustration.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody started talking to me, so that woke me up,\u201d Don\u010di\u0107 said.<\/p>\n
Asked who, Don\u010di\u0107 sarcastically looked at the box score at the podium.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatas,\u201d he said was a pause. \u201cBuzelis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s first bucket in the second quarter was a jumper over Buzelis, scoring 12 points in the final six minutes of the half, trash-talking Buzelis whether he was guarding him, on the bench or waiting to check back into the game. The treatment continued well into the fourth-quarter when Don\u010di\u0107 bumped Buzelis all the way out of bounds before scoring on an easy layup.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably not to talk to him,\u201d Buzelis said when asked what he took away from the night.<\/p>\n
Both Buzelis and Don\u010di\u0107 claimed the other started the trash-talking, officials stepping in between the players at one point in the first half. But history is told by the victors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was surprised. I didn\u2019t say nothing,\u201d Don\u010di\u0107 said. \u201c\u2026 Yeah. Not very nice. I was surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even know what to say, honestly. He started killing obviously when I started talking to him,\u201d Buzelis said. \u201cI just \u2026 I don\u2019t back down from anybody. No matter who you are. And I took on the challenge and didn\u2019t execute.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don\u010di\u0107 finished with nine made threes, tying a career high. After a slow start shooting from deep to start the season, he\u2019s made 41 percent on 10.5 attempts from three in his last 29 games \u2014 a stretch dating back to Jan. 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been high-volume, high-efficiency for about two and a half months now,\u201d Redick said of the shooting. \u201cIt\u2019s so important. It just sets up the rest of his game when he\u2019s making threes. And it obviously gives us life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Redick has often talked about Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s competitive fire and his ability to focus it on the right things. Thursday, that meant even more than scoring. In addition to the 51, he finished with 10 rebounds, nine assists, three steals, a blocked shot and just one turnover.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the second time in his career he\u2019s scored 50, had at least nine assists and one or fewer turnovers. Only Michael Jordan has done the same multiple times.<\/p>\n
Like Jordan, Don\u010di\u0107 is always looking for a target to direct his competitive rage, whether it be a courtside fan, an official or, in this case, a 21-year-old wing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a unique trait. It\u2019s not just the fact that he responds to a rough play or trash talking. It\u2019s that he can channel it, and he can channel it while still doing all the other things that needs to be done. And that\u2019s obviously reflective in his defensive rebounding, his assists, his steals \u2014 again, another game where he gets the high assists number with low turnovers,\u201d Redick said. \u201cHe\u2019s playing as well as anybody in the NBA right now. I think that\u2019s, you know, it\u2019s probably not being talked about enough \u2014 so I\u2019m going to talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why not? Redick knows just how much Don\u010di\u0107 likes to respond to talk. It\u2019s one of the things that makes him special.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe that\u2019s what made me a little bit good at basketball,\u201d Don\u010di\u0107 said with a grin.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The Athletic\u2018s Law Murray contributed to this story<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 The Lakers, for the first time in what\u2019s felt like months, couldn\u2019t get Luka Don\u010di\u0107…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[1055,355,99],"class_list":["post-522107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}