Luka Dončić sets Lakers career high with 60 points in ‘superhero performance’ vs. Heat

MIAMI — Not long after Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick said Luka Dončić deserved more consideration for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award, his star guard went and delivered another signature night to lead the surging Lakers to their eighth win in a row.

Dončić scored 60 points — the most he’s tallied since the Lakers acquired him last season — with his teammates erupting in celebration after his made free throw capped Thursday night’s 134-126 win against the Miami Heat.

“It was a superhero performance,” Redick said.

After Dončić scored 40 points in the Lakers’ win over the Rockets in Houston late Wednesday night, the team traveled to Miami, arriving at their hotel around 5 a.m. (ET) Thursday. Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves were all listed as questionable on the Lakers’ midday injury report. All three ended up playing to preserve the Lakers’ winning streak. L.A. is now in third place in the Western Conference at 45-25 this season, two games ahead of the fourth-place Minnesota Timberwolves and three games ahead of the Rockets and Denver Nuggets.

“We’re trying to win,” Reaves said of the trio’s decision to play Thursday.

Dončić opened with 21 points in the first half before becoming fully unstoppable in the third quarter. He scored 19 in the frame as the Lakers flipped the game into their favor, then added 20 points in the fourth quarter to shut the door on the victory.

Like he did late Wednesday, when he took over in a pivotal game against the Rockets that earned the Lakers the season tiebreaker, Dončić was the driving force that pushed the physically and mentally tired Lakers past the Heat. His 60 points came on 18 of 30 from the field, along with seven rebounds, three assists and five steals.

“Pretty impressive, right?” he said with a grin. “Five steals is not bad.”

As Dončić went to the free-throw line late in the fourth quarter, fans inside Kaseya Center began chanting “M-V-P” for him.

“You hear the whole crowd chanting ‘MVP,’ that’s what I think every player wants to hear,” Dončić said. “So I got a lot of goosebumps. It was pretty special.”

His performance capped an eight-game run in which he’s averaging 40.9 points per game while grabbing 8.9 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 2.4 steals.

“I think he’s playing as well as anyone in basketball,” Redick said before Thursday’s game. “He’s really elevated his play at a really important time for our team. He’s elevated the play of his teammates. I think there’s a trust level that we all have, coaches, teammates, with him closing games for us. He’s been fantastic, and I think he’s one of the best and should be in the MVP conversation. Hopefully, people will start talking about that because he’s having as good a season as anyone.”

Asked after the game why Dončić isn’t as frequently mentioned as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokić and Victor Wembanyama in MVP conversations, Redick said he thought maybe it was because Dončić argues with the officials. Dončić is one technical foul shy of a mandatory one-game suspension.

“It’s you guys, the media,” Dončić said. “I ain’t got nothing to do with it.”