LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers arrived at NBA All-Star Weekend as one of the league’s hottest teams, having won 10 of their last 12 games.
Nevertheless, on Wednesday, the Lakers appeared to be in vacation mode, losing to LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets 100-97.
Luka Doncic participated in his third game with Los Angeles after the significant trade a few weeks back, bringing his record to 1-2. However, the Slovenian is evidently still acclimating to his new team while also shedding some rust that developed during his month-long calf recovery.
Doncic concluded the evening with 14 points on 5-for-18 shooting, 11 rebounds, eight assists, and six turnovers. LeBron contributed 26 points.
After the game, Doncic addressed the media in a postgame press conference. When questioned about his feelings on the defeat, Doncic took responsibility, attributing his 13 missed shots as a significant factor.
Doncic stated, “I believe it was good.” Clearly, as I mentioned, I will require some time to adapt to everything. However, I believe it was good today. I believe we had several chances to score, but we missed all our shots, particularly me. “Simply take some time to acclimate to it.”
In three games against the Lakers, Doncic has looked like a shadow of his Mavericks form, averaging 14.67 points with a shooting percentage of 35.6%, along with 5.3 assists and 6.7 rebounds. He was, nonetheless, under a minutes restriction during the first two, which confined him to only 47 total minutes of play.
The Lakers (32-21) will get an opportunity to recover on Thursday, going up against another struggling team, the Portland Trail Blazers (23-31).