Luka Doncic scored a season-high 53 points to carry the Los Angeles Lakers to a 124-118 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena, continuing one of the hottest scoring starts in NBA history.
Doncic shot 17 of 33 from the field, including 5 of 15 from three-point range, and made 14 of 18 free throws, adding five rebounds, five assists and a steal. He closed the first half with a heave from beyond half court at the buzzer, and scored 20 points in the third quarter alone, five more than the entire Trail Blazers team managed in the period.
The 53-point night was the 11th 50-point game of Doncic's career, tying Allen Iverson for 10th on the NBA's all-time list, and his fourth with the Lakers. It was also his fourth consecutive game with at least 40 points, the first Laker to do that since Kobe Bryant in 2012, and his sixth 40-point game in nine appearances this season.
Doncic is averaging a career-high 40.1 points per game, and his 363 points through nine games are the most to open a season since Wilt Chamberlain in 1962. He and Chamberlain are the only players in NBA history to average at least 40 points through their first nine appearances of a season.
Austin Reaves added 25 points as the Lakers extended their winning streak to four games and improved to 8-2. Los Angeles trailed by as many as 16 points in the second quarter before rallying, and Doncic sealed the win with a jumper in the lane with 28 seconds left. The game was part of NBA Cup group play.
