Luka Doncic surely isn’t going to remember Thursday night as one of his most memorable in the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar guard was not at his top form against the Golden State Warriors that evening, with Stephen Curry and company eking out a 123-116 victory at Crypto.com Arena.
The 26-year-old Doncic struggled to find his groove on offense, shooting only 6-for-17 from the floor. He particularly had trouble from 3-point range, where he was just 0-for-7.
After the game, Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported that the Slovenian star’s shoulder was wrapped, though, Doncic didn’t use it as an excuse.
The Lakers guard’s left elbow was heavily wrapped in kinesiology tape and iced, but he did not blame the injury for his off night.
“It’s fine,” Doncic said. “That’s my left [arm], so it’s fine. I was shooting with the right. It [just] looked like [the] left.”
As a team, the Lakers shot just 45.3 percent from the floor. While LA hit 18 3-pointers on a solid success rate of 38.3 percent, the Warriors were better from deep, making 19 of their 42 tries from behind the arc for a 45.2 percent conversion. The second quarter turned out to be a pivotal period of the contest, with the Warriors outscoring LA in that frame by nine points.
Los Angeles Lakers fall short of sweeping the Warriors in 2024-25 NBA regular season
The Lakers were hoping to complete a four-game sweep of Golden State this season. Los Angeles had Luka Doncic this time around unlike in the previous three meetings, but Golden State found a way to prevent LeBron James and company from bringing out the broom.
Still, there’s a chance that the Lakers and the Warriors will end up meeting in the upcoming 2025 NBA Playoffs, as they are No. 4 and No. 5 at the moment, respectively, in the Western Conference standings.
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