SI

Luka Doncic Had Simple Reminder for NBA After Lakers' Big Win Over Nuggets

Doncic was frank about the Lakers' championship aspirations after snapping the Nuggets' win streak.

Liam McKeone

Doncic had 32 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lakers over the Nuggets.
Doncic had 32 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lakers over the Nuggets. / Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images
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Luka Doncic led the Los Angeles Lakers to a huge win on Saturday night, scoring 32 points and recording 10 rebounds to beat the Denver Nuggets, 123-100. Late Februrary wins rarely mean much in the NBA but this felt different for the Lakers.

The win served as a tantalizing glimpse of how good the offense can be when Doncic is clicking with LeBron James. The Nuggets have been the team's primary foil of late, having knocked L.A. out of the playoffs in two straight seasons. Such a victory is great for morale, and led to Doncic delivering a simple reminder to the rest of the NBA about the Lakers and the playoffs.

"Our goal is to win the championship," Doncic said to reporters on Saturday night, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic. "That’s our only goal. And I think we have the team for that."

The championship being the goal isn't a surprise. That is the ultimate goal for every team in every season. But there's been so much talk about how the Lakers will look down the road with Doncic that it's become easy to forget the roster is entirely capable of making serious noise in the playoffs right now. Sure, there are exploitable flaws, especially defensively, that stack the odds against L.A. as far as making a serious championship run.

Nevertheless— bet against Doncic and his running mate James at their own peril. Both players tend to shine brightest under the playoff lights. No matter how many potential issues surround them on the roster Doncic and James will be mighy dangerous come postseason. Doncic's quote above just serves as a reminder to everyone else.

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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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