Luka Doncic is far from his best and suffered his second defeat in his third game with the Lakers
Luka Doncic, who again reflected that he is still a long way from his best, admitted that he needs time and leeway to regain his fitness after injury and to adapt to his new team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I need a little bit of time, the legs are not there yet, it’s very hard for me with the legs,” he said in a press conference after the unexpected Lakers’ 97-100 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, second from bottom in the East and who had only won one of their last nine games.
“But every game is going to get better. So I’m happy to be able to play another game and keep moving forward,” she added.
Doncic, in his third game after a month and a half out of action with a calf injury, admitted that he still feels “very rusty” physically and that he is still not getting his shots or things are not going well.
“To start the game with four or five turnovers, that can’t happen,” he said.
The Lakers’ first game after the All-Star break was really bad, with many mistakes, a slow pace and 18 turnovers, six of them by Doncic.
The Slovenian once again struggled with his shooting (5 of 18 from the field and 1 of 9 from three-point range) and finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in 33 minutes. In his previous two meetings with the Los Angeles team, he did not reach 25 minutes.
This is the second straight loss for the Lakers (32-21), who just before the All-Star break also lost to another very weak team, the Utah Jazz (13-41).