Luka Doncic 52 points. Read it again, because the Utah Jazz crowd at Delta Center needed a few looks at the scoreboard too. Luka Doncic scored a league season-high 52 points with 10 assists and eight rebounds on Sunday night, and the Los Angeles Lakers came back from an 18-point second-quarter hole to beat the Utah Jazz 132-123 in Salt Lake City. The win moves the Lakers to 3-0, and it came two nights after Doncic called his own 11-turnover outing against the Clippers “terrible.”
Austin Reaves added 29 points, including a dagger three with 34 seconds left, and the two guards combined to go 21-for-24 from the free-throw line. It was the first 50-point game anywhere in the NBA this season.
Lakers vs Jazz by the numbers
- Final: Lakers 132, Jazz 123
- Quarters: Utah won the first 47-29, the Lakers won the second 45-24, the third finished 29-29, and the Lakers took the fourth 29-23
- Luka Doncic: 52 points, 17-for-30 from the field, 8-for-18 from three, 10-for-11 at the line, 10 assists, two steals, four turnovers
- Austin Reaves: 29 points on 7-for-12 shooting, 4-for-5 from three, 11-for-13 at the line, plus-14
- Lakers shooting: 40-for-82 (49%), 20-for-47 from three (43%), 32-for-38 at the line
- Utah: 52 rebounds to 31, 20 offensive boards to five, and 58 points in the paint to 30
- Turnovers: Lakers 10, Jazz 17. The Lakers scored 22 points off Utah’s mistakes
How the 18-point hole happened, and how it closed
Utah scored 47 points in the first quarter behind Ace Bailey, Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen. Their lead reached 18 in the second quarter.
Then the second quarter flipped. Reaves had gone scoreless in the first quarter and scored 15 in the second. Doncic finished the half with a sequence that showed his rhythm was back. He made a fadeaway that rolled around the rim and dropped for a three-point play, ripped the ball away from Bailey for a steal, and hit a step-back three with 4.1 seconds left. That shot gave the Lakers their first lead of the night, 74-71, at halftime. Doncic scored 25 points in the half, and the Lakers’ 45-point second quarter erased everything Utah had built.
“When he’s in the flow state, he gets into, like, showman mode,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “He’s on stage performing … it’s always really fun to watch.”
The fourth-quarter closing stretch
Utah still led 116-113 after two Markkanen free throws with 4:17 left. Here is how the Lakers closed:
- 4:06: Doncic hits a 24-foot step-back three to tie the game at 116 and gestures for the crowd to quiet down.
- 3:34: Doncic makes two free throws for a 118-116 lead. Around the same stretch he stepped in front of George to draw a charge.
- 3:02: Reaves is fouled on a three and makes all three free throws for a 121-117 lead.
- 2:22: Doncic hits a 28-foot three off a Reaves feed, 124-119.
- 1:42: Doncic hits a 27-foot three assisted by Ziaire Williams for a 127-121 lead. He then holds up three fingers toward the stands.
- 0:33.8: Reaves knocks down a 25-foot three off a Doncic pass to make it 130-123.
Doncic closed the night at the line while “MVP” chants rang through a building packed with fans in purple and gold. ESPN Stats & Information counted 79 points that Doncic either scored or assisted on. That ranks third in a single Lakers game, behind Kobe Bryant’s 86 in his 81-point night in 2006 and Elgin Baylor’s 80 in 1959. It was also Doncic’s fourth career game with at least 50 points and 10 assists, which breaks a tie with Nikola Jokic, Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard and Nate Archibald and leaves only James Harden ahead of him.
“I’m still getting there”
Doncic did not play for the Slovenian national team this summer. Redick has pointed to that layoff as the reason his star is still finding his rhythm, and Doncic agreed after the game.
“I’m still getting there honestly,” Doncic said. “This is the first time I didn’t play basketball in six or seven months, which is a long time. So I’m not used to it.”
Austin Reaves stays “Mr. Consistency”
Reaves now averages 26.7 points through three games on 63.9% shooting, with 6.2 assists per game according to the Los Angeles Times. Redick summed up his start in two words.
“AR so far in these three games has just been Mr. Consistency,” Redick said.
On Sunday, Reaves shot almost exclusively threes and free throws. He made 4 of 5 from deep and 11 of 13 at the line, and his plus-14 led the team.
Walker Kessler’s quiet homecoming
The pregame storyline was Walker Kessler’s first trip back to Utah, where he spent the first four seasons of his career before the sign-and-trade that brought him to Los Angeles. He came in averaging 24 points and 8.5 rebounds on 84.6% shooting through two games. On Sunday he finished with two points on 1-for-2 shooting, seven rebounds and a block in 28 minutes, with four fouls.
“Kind of got too amped and then just couldn’t find the ball,” Kessler said. “Couldn’t find the rhythm, just kind of was off a couple fouls that were tough, a couple blocks I usually [make]. It’s one of those nights. But fortunately basketball is not a one-man sport.”
He also had a line for the road crowd: “Getting MVP chants in someone else’s arena is crazy. But, you know, obviously deserving.”
The Lakers did lose the glass badly. Utah’s 52-31 rebounding edge and 58-30 advantage in the paint will be the main film-room topic, especially with a physical stretch of the schedule ahead.
The supporting cast
- Collin Sexton scored 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting in 20 minutes off the bench and has quickly become the second-unit scorer.
- Ziaire Williams and Matisse Thybulle scored 11 apiece and combined for six made threes. Thybulle added three steals and a plus-12.
- Jake LaRavia, cleared for the trip, went scoreless in 15 minutes but posted a plus-14 with four rebounds and two steals.
For Utah, Markkanen scored 28 and George had 24 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists. Jaren Jackson Jr. added 20, and Bailey had 17 points and 12 rebounds. The Lakers have now won eight of their last nine against the Jazz.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers are 3-0 and come home to host the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m. PT. Then they visit the Clippers at Intuit Dome on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 7:30 p.m. PT for the second crosstown game in six days. A trip to Golden State follows on Friday, Oct. 30, before the Toronto Raptors visit on Sunday, Nov. 1. Cameron Carr (oblique strain) and Adou Thiero (knee effusion) remain out, and there was no new timeline on either as of Monday morning.
A note on the box score: ESPN’s game story says seven rebounds for Doncic, while the box score and the Los Angeles Times say eight, so we are going with eight.
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