Luka Doncic did not just win a game on Friday night. He left his own coach completely without words. The Lakers beat the Trail Blazers 124-118, but the real story happened in the locker room and the press area. Doncic topped Michael Jordan for the most points in the first nine games of a season since the NBA-ABA merger by scoring 53 points, a season high. It was a quiet, sneaky look at JJ Redick.
Doncic waited until Redick was deep in a postgame interview. He then peeked his head out from behind the curtain where the press conference was held. Redick did not see him. The coach kept talking to a reporter while the star player watched him with a blank face. A fan on X called it “peak sneaky mode” and asked if the coach even noticed. Per the New York Post, the reaction left Lakers fans in laughter. It was a funny break in the tension of a hard-fought comeback win.
Redick Runs Out of Superlatives
The coach has praised Doncic as a “supernova” before, but Friday’s performance broke his vocabulary. When asked for more praise after the 53-point game, Redick admitted he was stuck. “I’m going to just sit around, we’ll gather one day and come up with more superlatives,” Redick added. He followed that by saying, “So I’ll have more words ready. But for now, I don’t have any words.”
Doncic is averaging 40.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.6 assists. Nobody in the modern NBA has posted numbers this high since Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-63. He has scored over 40 points in four straight games. The Lakers are now 8-2 on the season and hold the top seed in the Western Conference. The team is winning because of one man who is having a lot of fun. “I’m having a lot of fun,” Dončić said. “Obviously playing basketball, it’s a lot of fun for me.”
A Funny Mix-Up in the Locker Room
While Doncic was in a quiet moment, another player made a mistake, and the game kept moving quickly. Ziaire Williams walked up to Austin Reaves and yelled “Fifty ball” while putting hands on his shoulders. Williams thought Reaves was the one who scored 53 points. Shaking his head in disbelief, Reaves retorted, “I’m the wrong white person,” and Williams laughed, saying “Deadass,” when he realized his error. Even Doncic joked about the mix-up, calling it “very disrespectful to me.”
Doncic now has 361 points through his first nine games. He has passed Michael Jordan’s total of 347 from the same span. Since the NBA-ABA merger, no one has scored more points in the first nine games of a season. The Lakers are 1-1 in NBA Cup Group Play games after this victory.
