Luka Doncic Had Extra Fire In A Huge Lakers Bounce-Back Win

Luka Doncic shrugged off Scottie Barnes's antics to lead the Lakers with a historic performance against the Raptors.

Luka Doncic didn’t waste any time taking over Sunday’s game against the Toronto Raptors, and he wasn’t in the mood for Scottie Barnes’s gamesmanship either.

Barnes and Doncic got locked up during a play, and the exchange that followed had a little extra heat to it. Barnes seemed intent on getting the Lakers star to bite, especially with Doncic already in foul trouble, but Doncic never gave him the reaction he was looking for.

The bigger answer came on the scoreboard. Los Angeles shook off its disappointing loss to the Golden State Warriors with a 131-125 win over Toronto, and Doncic was the driver behind it.

He put together one of the most outrageous individual lines the Raptors have seen in a long time: 45 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, five steals and one block. Doncic shot 12 of 23 from the field, hit 8 of 12 from three, and went a perfect 13 for 13 at the line.

Per Stathead, no player in NBA history had ever posted that exact stat line in a single game. It was also the 71st 40-point game of Doncic’s career, playoffs included.

The tone was set right away. Doncic scored 16 points in the opening quarter alone, the fourth time this season he has reached at least 15 in the first 12 minutes. The rest of the NBA has combined for only four such games over that same stretch.

For a Lakers team that had just given away a big lead against Golden State, this was the kind of response it needed. The victory moved Los Angeles to 5-2 on the season.

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