{"id":638385,"date":"2026-03-07T09:44:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T09:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/638385\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T09:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T09:44:20","slug":"luka-doncic-makes-lakers-history-with-44-point-effort-vs-pacers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/638385\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka Doncic makes Lakers history with 44-point effort vs. Pacers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Luka Doncic<\/a> scored 44 points despite not playing the fourth quarter, and the Lakers<\/a> defeated the struggling Indiana Pacers 128-117<\/a> on Friday night with LeBron James<\/a> and Deandre Ayton<\/a> out because of injury.<\/p>\n

Doncic showcased his offensive wizardry, joining Kobe Bryant<\/a>, Elgin Baylor<\/a> and Jerry West<\/a> as the only players in Lakers history to record at least 40 points in a season 10 times.<\/p>\n

Doncic was 14 for 25 from the field, seven for 14 from three-point range and nine for 10 from the free-throw line. He also had nine rebounds and five assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always want to be productive. But it\u2019s just next-man-up mentality,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cWe have great guys on the bench. So, they help us win this game.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had 22 points on seven-for-nine shooting in the first quarter, making all five of his three-pointers. It marked the fifth time in his career he scored at least 20 in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt great,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cI felt like I had my legs working. But definitely needed to win this game, so we came out aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers led 64-51 at halftime and Doncic had 29 points.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Doncic ended the third quarter by banking in a three-pointer with 5.3 seconds left and then pointing to his teammates on the bench. The shot gave the Lakers a 19-point lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can make every shot,\u201d coach JJ Redick<\/a> said. \u201cI mean, he can make a step-back, left-wing bank shot that line drives and barely goes above the rim. He can make floaters. He can make floaters going left, right. He\u2019s a shot-maker, but he\u2019s also a playmaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doncic also had a solid game on defense, recording three steals and two blocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know people are not going to talk about it,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cSo, I\u2019m just trying to do my job, trying to be more aggressive, be more engaged. So, just trying to do better defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Luka <\/p>\n

Luka Doncic shoots a three-pointer over Indiana Pacers forward Jarace Walker in the first half Friday.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Austin Reaves had 19 points and five assists before fouling out with 4:58 left. Luke Kennard had 15 points and Rui Hachimura scored 13 points as the Lakers (38-25) bounced back from a tough loss at Denver on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Pascal Siakam led Indiana (15-48) with 26 points, five rebounds and three assists.<\/p>\n

James did not play after sustaining a left elbow injury against the Nuggets. Redick said James was \u201cstill banged up\u201d but said the Lakers think he will play Sunday against the New York Knicks.<\/p>\n

Ayton (knee) and reserve center Maxi Kleber (back) also are day to day, Redick said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luka Doncic scored 44 points despite not playing the fourth quarter, and the Lakers defeated the struggling Indiana…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":638386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[38124,17378,1582,276,2385,3372,49745,271863,164316,1910,271864,2961,166000,3363,224,5337,3365,5999,449,3046],"class_list":["post-638385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-assist","tag-austin-reaves","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-day","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-effort","tag-elgin-baylor","tag-first-quarter","tag-game","tag-jerry-west","tag-la","tag-lakers-history","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-luka-doncic","tag-pacers","tag-point","tag-thursday-night"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116187251870965781","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}