Luka Doncic was on the floor for 37 minutes of Tuesday night’s 136-129 loss to Portland, and the Lakers won those minutes by seven. He sat for the other 11, and the Lakers lost those by 14. That is the whole game, per ESPN’s box score: Doncic finished plus-7 with 41 points and nine assists on a night his team lost by seven.
My take: Portland’s shooters won the last four minutes, and some of that is just Lillard. But the Lakers gave away 14 points in two short stretches with Doncic on the bench, in a game they lost by seven. JJ Redick can fix those stretches without giving Luka a single extra minute. The bench group needs Sandro Mamukelashvili at center and fewer jumpers from the guards who replace him.
Two Rests, Two Seven-Point Holes
Doncic sat twice. The first stretch ran from the start of the second quarter until he checked back in with 5:27 left in the half, per ESPN’s play-by-play. By my count from that play-by-play, Portland outscored the Lakers 21-14 while he was out.
The second came at the worst time. The Lakers led 103-102 after three quarters, per the line score. Redick opened the fourth with Austin Reaves, Collin Sexton, Quentin Grimes, Jake LaRavia and Walker Kessler. Doncic came back at the 7:18 mark. In between, Portland scored 12 points to the Lakers’ 5, with threes from Lillard, Toumani Camara and Deni Avdija. The Associated Press recap described it plainly: Portland took an eight-point lead early in the fourth quarter before Doncic returned to lead the comeback.
He did lead it. Mamukelashvili, Kessler and Reaves chipped away, and a Ziaire Williams three put the Lakers up 120-118 with 4:43 left, by my count from the play-by-play. Portland outscored the Lakers 18-9 from there, with Holiday, Lillard, Avdija and Morant all scoring, and Lillard’s step-back three with 43 seconds left put it away. The Lakers spent the middle of the fourth digging out of a hole they dug with Doncic on the bench, and had nothing extra when Portland’s shooters got hot.
Doncic’s minutes were not perfect. The last four of them went to Portland. But over the whole night he finished plus-7 against a team that made 50% of its threes and scored 56 points in the paint, per ESPN. With him on the floor, the Lakers mostly kept pace with a hot Portland night. Without him, they fell behind twice.
More Luka Is the Wrong Fix
The easy reaction is to play Doncic 40 minutes. I don’t want that. I argued before the season that the Lakers should cap Luka Doncic around 34 minutes, because the season is decided in April and May. He has already gone 37, 38 and 37 in three of the four games, per ESPN’s box scores. The Lakers play the Clippers on Wednesday, the second night of a back-to-back. Pushing him to 40 the night before would be the wrong lesson.
So the Lakers have to win, or at least tie, the 11 minutes. That means looking at who played them.
Kevon Looney’s Numbers Are Getting Loud
So far, I got this one wrong. Before the season, I wrote that Kevon Looney, not Mamukelashvili, should back up Kessler, because Looney rebounds like a starting center and Mamukelashvili doesn’t. Four games in, the Lakers’ results with Looney on the floor are hard to defend.
Here is Looney by game, per ESPN’s box scores:
| Game | Minutes | Plus-minus |
|---|---|---|
| Warriors, Oct. 21 | 15 | -7 |
| Clippers, Oct. 23 | 5 | -9 |
| at Jazz, Oct. 25 | 5 | -5 |
| Blazers, Oct. 27 | 5 | -8 |
That is minus-29 in 30 minutes. Plus-minus is noisy, and the Warriors game was a blowout win where his 15 minutes included a lot of mop-up time. But the Lakers have lost his minutes every night, and on Tuesday he opened the second quarter as the center in Doncic’s first rest.
Mamukelashvili, meanwhile, was the Lakers’ best bench player. He scored 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting, made three of four threes and finished plus-6 in 24 minutes, per ESPN. The AP noted that he capped a 13-point first half with a three at the buzzer. He checked in for LaRavia with 8:56 to play, and once the comeback started, it ran through him: a 10-footer at 7:35, an assist on a Kessler dunk at 7:02 and a running layup at 6:45, per the play-by-play.
The rebounding case for Looney was real, and Portland’s Robert Williams III did grab 10 rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench. But an offense with Doncic on the bench needs someone who can space the floor for Reaves, and Mamukelashvili does that. When Kessler sits, he should be the center. When Kessler plays the Doncic-rest minutes, I would put Mamukelashvili beside him, the two-big look we wanted the Lakers to try.
The Guards Have to Run the Offense
The other half of the problem was the backcourt. Sexton went 4-for-11 with three turnovers and missed all five of his threes. Grimes went 1-for-4 and missed all three of his. Between them they were minus-18 in 33 minutes, per ESPN. In the first 64 seconds of the fourth quarter, Sexton took two threes and Reaves took a step-back three. All three missed.
I have also argued that Collin Sexton should lead the bench unit, and I still think he is the right player for it. One bad night does not erase a guard who made 40.1% of his threes last season. But leading the bench means running it. With Reaves on the floor, Sexton does not need to be the first shot of the possession. Reaves was the Lakers’ cleanest player on Tuesday: 26 points on 13 shots and zero turnovers in 39 minutes. When Doncic sits and Reaves is on, the ball should be in Reaves’ hands, and Sexton should be the guy he kicks it to.
Grimes is the harder call. He was plus-20 against Golden State and has been minus-8 and minus-10 in the last two games. LaRavia was also minus-10 in 19 minutes. Both of Doncic’s rests opened with Sexton, Grimes and LaRavia on the floor together, per the play-by-play. That is a lot of guards and wings who need someone else to create. One of Grimes or LaRavia can sit when Doncic does, and Mamukelashvili can take the spot.
Portland’s Bench Won the Game Too
Give Portland credit for its depth. Jrue Holiday scored 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting and was plus-10 in 30 minutes off the bench. Robert Williams III added 14 points. Portland’s bench outscored the Lakers’ bench 48-33, by my addition from the box score. In our preview I said the Lakers should hunt Lillard and Morant with Reaves and warned that the Holiday minutes would be harder. They were.
The Blazers are 3-0 and shot 59% from the floor in Los Angeles. Some of this was a very good team having a very good night. Lillard and Avdija each hit a three inside the last four minutes, and Morant made jumpers on consecutive possessions after that. Nobody’s rotation fixes that.
But the Lakers led for 68% of the game, per ESPN’s team stats, and the two stretches with Doncic sitting cost them 14 points in a seven-point loss. That is the fixable part, and the roster has the bodies to fix it.
What I Want to See at the Clippers
Wednesday is a test of whether Redick saw the same thing. I’ll be watching the first stint of the second quarter. If Looney is at center again with Sexton, Grimes and LaRavia around Reaves, Redick is opening the rest the same way he did Tuesday, when that five was minus-4 in just over two minutes. If Mamukelashvili is the center and Reaves has the ball, Redick is fixing the 11 minutes.
Doncic gave the Lakers 41 and a plus-7. They need a bench that can hold the game where he left it.