Luka Doncic had as much fun dropping 52 points as his coach and teammates had watching him in Utah.
Doncic had the first 50-ball of the season against the Jazz, to go with 10 assists and eight rebounds.
His coach JJ Redick had the perfect way to describe when the Lakers star enters flow state on the court.
“I think for him in particular, when he’s in the flow state he gets into showman mode,” Redick said after the game. “He’s on a stage performing and that’s always really fun to watch.”
As one of the best shooters in NBA history, Redick certainly had his moments during his playing career where he reached that flow state as well and nothing could miss. In watching Doncic on this night, the Lakers coach noted that he recognized Doncic reaching that point at the end of the first half and believes it helped give the Lakers life after an abysmal first quarter.
“It was one of those things where you’re talking with your staff in timeouts… You’re talking about chipping away and you get it to 12 and then they go back up, and then you get it to 12 again, 10, and then you kinda are like, alright let’s just have some momentum going into the first half. I don’t think you expect to be winning to end the half when you’re down 18 to start the second quarter. But I think we got our life back. I don’t think we started the game with a lot of life.”
His teammate Austin Reaves shared similar sentiments to his coach.
“Once he gets in the mode he gets in, it’s just give him the ball and he’s either going to put the ball in basket or he’s going to make the right [play],” Reaves said. “I just happened to be open and he threw it to me, was open, shot it with confidence and made it.
“He’s always in showman mode. I think he’s always ready to get a bucket. Knowing that as a teammate, you just let him do him and we’re going to benefit from it as a team.”