Luka Doncic on Saturday marked his birthday with 26 points as the Los Angeles Lakers boosted their playoff hopes with a 129-101 drubbing of the depleted Golden State Warriors.
Doncic rattled in four three-pointers with six rebounds and eight assists in a dominant Lakers win at San Francisco’s Chase Center.
LeBron James backed Doncic with a 22-point haul, while Austin Reaves finished with 18 points to give the Lakers a morale-boosting victory after three consecutive losses.
Photo: AP
The Warriors, missing the injured Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, were in damage limitation mode throughout after trailing by 13 points at the end of the first quarter.
“We needed a win like this,” Doncic told US broadcaster ABC following the victory.
“Obviously, they’ve got Steph out, Jimmy out, but it’s still a dangerous game. So that was a great win,” added Doncic, who turned 27 on Saturday.
The Slovenian superstar believes the win can act as a catalyst for the Lakers as they enter the home stretch of the regular season, with Doncic, James and Reaves all fit after injury absences this season.
“We’ll just go game by game, but the chemistry’s going to grow — I think today was one of the best games we played together,” Doncic said.
Before the game, LeBron James’ 11-year-old daughter, Zhuri James, held a shooting session at Chase Center after her dad concluded his own warm-up routine.
She came out on the court to shoot from different spots around the key, with a little coaching from her superstar dad.
Zhuri James — a talented volleyball player — said she had fun with the opportunity, which is not something she gets to do at road games because she has not traveled before.
“She’s a good-luck charm,” LeBron James said. “First road trip in my career that she’s been on besides All-Star Weekend and stuff like that.”
At Lakers home games, she goes on the court “sometimes, but not a lot,” she said.
LeBron James said that he had missed family moments during his 23-year career.
“Over the course of my career any time I got moments with them either individually, two of them, three of them all together, whatever the case may be, it’s always special for me,” he told reporters in the locker room. “And my daughter wants to come on the road and be with me... We spent a lot of time, it was pretty cool. It was awesome.”
Elsewhere on Saturday, the Miami Heat cooked the Houston Rockets 115-105, the Charlotte Hornets stung the Portland Trail Blazers 109-93, the Toronto Raptors mauled the Washington Wizards 134-125 and the New Orleans Pelicans bested the Utah Jazz 115-105.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with AP
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