Despite playing on the second leg of a back-to-back, the Los Angeles Lakers broke no sweat in their 127-113 rout of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.
After recently incurring his 16th technical foul of the season, which prompted an automatic suspension in yesterday’s bout against the Washington Wizards, Luka Doncic marked his return in major fashion, notching 42 points and 12 assists to strengthen his MVP bid.
“I’m not the one voting, but I think I’ve been playing pretty good, we’ve been winning… That’s all I gotta say,” Doncic said postgame.
Luka Reaches Scoring Milestone as Lakers Reach 50-Win Mark
Aside from the win, Doncic once again etched his name in NBA history, becoming only the tenth player to score 600 points in a single month, where he averaged a whopping 37.5 points in March alone.
Moreover, the record also puts Doncic’s point total at over 15,000 in his career, making him the third youngest to reach that milestone, trailing scoring greats Kevin Durant and current teammate LeBron James.
The Lakers lost only twice this past month and have now won 16 of their last 18 games, securing themselves a playoff spot after the Phoenix Suns’ loss to the Orlando Magic earlier today.
LeBron Reaches All-Time Wins Record Against Former Team
In his 23rd season in the league, LeBron James once again stands alone in the record books, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most wins in NBA history at 1,229, and it was only right that it came against his former team—Cleveland.
After dropping a triple-double yesterday, The King followed it up with 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists, including his patented chasedown block in the game’s first five seconds.
For the Cavs, no player scored more than 20 points, as the duo of Donovan Mitchell and James Harden went quiet, combining for only 27. The wine-and-gold also struggled from deep, shooting at just a 33% clip.
The Lakers will look to extend their momentum into the new month when they face the reigning champions, the OKC Thunder, on Friday, while the Cavs return to action on the same day against the Golden State Warriors.
