When Darius Acuff Jr. picked the toughest player he’s guarded in the NBA this week, the Sacramento Kings rookie went straight to one game. On Nov. 4 in Sacramento, Luka Doncic missed his first four shots and still put up 40 points in a 116-103 Los Angeles Lakers win.
“It’s a no brainer Luka, he had 40,” Acuff said on the Road Trippin’ podcast. “I tell you the truth, it’s not easy to go out there and be like, ‘I can guard him.’ I can definitely tell you that. When you look at the stat sheet, you know how they put the scout on your chair in the locker room, you look at it [expletive], say 38. So it’s like, you know? He be going crazy; I ain’t going to lie.”
The 38 on the sheet gave Acuff a sense of what he was walking into. The 40 gave him a game to point to when the question came up. Acuff had played 11 games when he weighed in. The one he remembered came in the first of four meetings between the Lakers and Kings this season. Sacramento led by eight early, and the teams finished the opening quarter tied at 28. By halftime, Doncic had 23 points, LakersNation reports.
How Luka Doncic turned a slow start into 40 points
Doncic scored 11 consecutive Lakers points after returning in the second quarter, helping Los Angeles take a 61-54 halftime lead. He scored another 11 in a row for the Lakers in the third. The lead reached double digits in that quarter as Doncic hit deep 3-pointers, drove to the basket, and created open shots for teammates.
Los Angeles led 87-74 after three. Austin Reaves helped extend the margin early in the fourth while Doncic sat, but the Kings brought the deficit back down to seven. Doncic came back in for the final stretch and helped close out the win at the free throw line.
Doncic shot 11-for-23, making 11 of his final 19 attempts after the four early misses. He added nine rebounds and seven assists in 35 minutes as the Lakers improved to 7-2. That was his fifth 40-point game in a six-game stretch.
Luka Doncic’s scoring pace puts him in rare company
The win in Sacramento extended another streak. Doncic became the first player in NBA history to put up at least 35 points, five rebounds, five assists, and five 3-pointers in six consecutive games. His seven assists against the Kings came on a night when he also helped swing two quarters with his own scoring.
Doncic was averaging 40 points per game at the time of the Sacramento matchup. Going into Sunday’s game against the Phoenix Suns, he still led the NBA at 38.6 points per game. The Lakers had reached 11-2 entering Friday’s slate and won seven straight games, per SI. Los Angeles also took the first three games of its four-game road trip, with Phoenix the final stop.
If Doncic finishes the season at 35 points per game or higher, he’ll become the first player to reach that mark since James Harden in 2018-19. The last player to do it before Harden was Kobe Bryant in 2005-06, when he was with the Lakers.
Luka Doncic’s 40-Point Night Stuck With Kings Rookie Darius Acuff Jr.