Lakers Win Uneven Game Over Kings Behind 40 Points From Luka Doncic

On a night when Lakers coach JJ Redick said his team was “a little flat,” Luka Doncic flattened yet another opponent.

Even Doncic started slow compared to his usual first-quarter exploits, but he picked up his pace as the game progressed, dropping 40 points on the woeful Sacramento Kings to lead the Lakers to a 116-103 win Wednesday night at Golden1 Center.

Doncic has scored 40-plus points in three straight games and in five of his last six.

So, after he went 11-for-23 from the field and six-for-13 from three-point range and after he also notched nine rebounds and seven assists, Doncic was asked if he’s ever had a better offensive stretch over his eight-year NBA career.

Read more:Fun, flowing, not yet flawless: Lakers' league-best offense still has room to improve

“Maybe. I don’t know,” he said. “I had some good stretches in my career. But obviously this could be one of the highest ones. But there’s still some work to do.”

Doncic had 10 points in the first quarter, a slow start for him considering he averages 15 points per game in the first 12 minutes. He had 13 in the second, 12 in the third and five in the fourth.

He even made a 360-degree three-pointer in the third.

“He’s playing great right now and he’s doing a great job,” Redick said. “We talked about this after the game or before the game, but he’s doing a great job just playing off the ball. We’re trying to set off-ball screens for him. Other guys are handling (the ball). So, I think some of that workload from bringing the ball up against pressure every single possession. Like it’s just not there right now, and that’s very intentional on our part.”

In the middle of all of this, Doncic is making history.

He became the first player in NBA history to record six consecutive games with 35-plus points, five-plus rebounds, five-plus assists and three-plus three-pointers.

The season is just two weeks old and Doncic is dominating in ways not seen very often.

When asked if he was in mid-season form, Doncic shrugged.

“I don’t know, honestly,” he said. “Too early to tell, you know,” Doncic said. “But as I go back, I had the whole summer to recover. A lot of stuff that I couldn’t do in the last maybe eight years. So that’s where the energy is coming from.”

Walker Kessler had a strong game with 15 points on six-for-eight shooting, eight rebounds and three blocks to aid Doncic.

Read more:Lakers newsletter: Luka Doncic's scoring reaches new universe

Austin Reaves had 21 points to help Doncic out against a Kings team that is tied with four other teams with the worst record in the league at 1-7.

They give up 124.3 points per game, the second-most in the league and teams shoot 50.5% against them, a league-high.

So, the high-scoring Lakers just had to play to their usual effort.

They began the game second in scoring (122.5) in the league and first in field-goal percentage (52%).

But the first half was a choppy affair because of all the fouls being called.

Each team was called for 12 fouls in the first half. The Lakers were called for nine fouls in the second quarter and the Kings were called for eight.

Jake LaRavia picked up his fourth foul with eight minutes and two seconds left in the second quarter.

The Lakers had committed enough fouls to put the Kings in the penalty with 9:24 left in the second quarter.

That was the kind of first half the Lakers had to endure.

But when Doncic got going in the second quarter, the Lakers played a little better.

He scored 13 of their final 15 points in the second quarter and finished the first half with 23 points.

Still, Doncic took the blame for the Lakers’ lackadaisical start.

“Yeah, that was on me. I came out little sloppy. I take responsibility for that,” Doncic said. “I know that my first quarter wasn’t good. So I just came back in the game trying to be more aggressive, be more focused.”

Sign up for our weekly newsletter on all things Lakers.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.