Recap: Luka Doncic Scores 42 To Lead Lakers To Easy Win Over Heat

The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t have much time to celebrate their win over the Toronto Raptors as they were back in action on Monday night, taking on the Miami Heat at Crypo.com Arena in the second night of a back-to-back. They didn’t look like the tired team though as Luka Doncic continued his absolute tear to begin the season and the Lakers picked up another win to improve to 6-2 on the year. Lakers 138, Heat 117: key takeaways Another good start for Lakers The Lakers have been getting out to quick starts all season, and that was again the case in this one. Doncic leads the NBA in first quarter scoring by a mile and in this one, he had a pair of early triples to get him going and had 16 points overall in the first quarter. Both teams were shooting it well from deep early, which is how the Heat stayed within striking distance. But a nice spurt to end the quarter by L.A. gave them a 37-30 lead. Defense optional With both teams catching fire, they were essentially going back and forth exchanging buckets for much of the first half. They both shot 10-of-20 from 3 and scored 70-plus points with the Lakers leading 79-72 at the break. Luka Doncic does it again Doncic has been playing at an MVP level to begin the season and he continued his ridiculous tear. He came out firing in the third quarter with a three-point play and then a triple as the Lakers began to build their lead. It was all Doncic from there as he was either scoring or creating wide open looks for his teammates. He found Walker Kessler for a dunk and then connected from deep once again to get the lead up to 20, although the Lakers wound up taking a 111-93 lead into the fourth quarter. The Lakers have greatly struggled with Doncic on the bench the last few games, but that was not the case in this one as they held their own to begin the fourth. Then, Doncic returned and picked up where he left off as the superstar recorded his fourth 40-point game in the last five outings and the Lakers had no issue closing out the easy win. What’s next for the Lakers The Lakers will now hit the road to take on the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday before returning home and hosting the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday in a rematch from a fun contest last week. If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.