Luka Doncic: Lakers Must Not Use Injuries & Tough Schedule as Excuses<\/p>\n
With three starters sidelined, including LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers were heavily dependent on Luka Doncic to lead the offense against the Milwaukee Bucks.<\/p>\n
Doncic did all he could to keep the Lakers in contention, recording 45 points and 11 rebounds on 14-of-27 shooting. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as the Lakers lost to the Bucks by 20, marking their third straight defeat on the road.<\/p>\n
The Lakers are currently facing one of their toughest scheduling stretches, with three consecutive back-to-back games, meaning six games in eight days. With injuries further complicating matters, the team finds itself in a difficult situation.<\/p>\n
However, Doncic isn’t making excuses for either himself or the Lakers. After the loss in Milwaukee, the star guard acknowledged he’s never faced anything like this, but emphasized that the team must push forward, as he told Spectrum SportsNet:<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever gone through something like that. But at the end of the day, we\u2019re getting paid to do this, and there should be no excuse about being tired. This is what we live for. We just have to recover well after every game and keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding the Lakers’ current mindset, Doncic reiterated the same sentiment of pushing forward, emphasizing that successful teams endure tough stretches, learn from them, and continue believing in their ability to win:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mindset is to keep going. We\u2019re missing three really important players, so it\u2019s always tough when three or four starters are out. But winning teams always go through challenges, and we\u2019re experiencing that now. We just have to learn from it and approach the next game with the mindset that we can win and we want to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is undoubtedly the right attitude for the Lakers as they must press on and find ways to win, regardless of who\u2019s on the floor. With Doncic leading, anything is possible, but the margin for error is slim, so a full-team effort will be required to turn things around.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s matchup against the Denver Nuggets will be even tougher, as Doncic is among those who have been ruled out, which is understandable given the challenging schedule ahead for L.A.<\/p>\n
Luka Doncic Says Big Scoring Night \u2018Doesn\u2019t Matter\u2019 in a Lakers Loss<\/p>\n
Luka Doncic had his most impressive offensive performance as a Laker with 45 points, but the superstar guard is more focused on team wins than personal achievements.<\/p>\n
Doncic mentioned that \u2018nothing matters\u2019 if the Lakers don\u2019t win, calling his big night \u2018OK.\u2019 He also shared that he’s still not fully recovered from the calf injury that sidelined him for six weeks, but believes winning will help him regain his rhythm.<\/p>\n
Without their full starting frontcourt, the Los Angeles Lakers were simply overpowered by the much larger Milwaukee Bucks. The Lakers stayed close in the first half, thanks mainly to Doncic\u2019s remarkable effort, but were ultimately outpaced in a 20-point defeat.<\/p>\n
Regarding what went wrong, JJ Redick admitted that the matchup was a tough one for the shorthanded Lakers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Luka Doncic: Lakers Must Not Use Injuries & Tough Schedule as Excuses With three starters sidelined, including LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers were heavily dependent on Luka Doncic to lead the offense against the Milwaukee Bucks. Doncic did all he could to keep the Lakers in contention, recording 45 points and 11 rebounds on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2586],"tags":[488],"class_list":["post-28016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","tag-luka-doncic"],"yoast_head":"\n