The Los Angeles Lakers overcame a 16-point deficit to defeat the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night, 115-107. Luka Dončić once again reminded everyone that this team will go as far as he can carry it by posting a triple-double with 38 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. When engaged, no one denies that he is one of the best players in basketball.
Lakers coach JJ Redick explained how he views his stone-cold superstar.
“Luka, you can’t turn the engine halfway with him,” Redick said after the game. “Once the engine’s on, like he’s in kill mode. And it’s on me as a coach to make sure that everybody else is involved, and it’s on him too, on the court, to make sure that. And truthfully, I think he’s done a phenomenal job of that the last couple weeks.”
Now, maybe it's redundant to say that the NBA's leading scorer is in "kill mode." The evidence of that kind of speaks for itself. But it's worth noticing that all of those concerns about Dončić being anything less than completely locked in have faded away completely following the high-profile trade that sent him from the Mavs to the Lakers. And it's worth keeping track of just how actively Redick and James seem to be hyping him up as they know that he's the key to everything.
So how do you stop someone like Dončić? Apparently by never letting him get his hands on the keys.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as JJ Redick Explains How Luka Dončić Only Has One Gear.
