The Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans promised to give a great match at the close of the NBA day and they delivered, with an incredible ending that ended in the Los Angeles victory in overtime.
To get to overtime, the Lakers had to resort to a miracle: first rookie Dyson Daniels missed two free throws with 1.6 seconds left that could have clinched the Pelicans victory, and then another rookie, Matt Ryan, tied the game with an incredible shot from a corner.
Finally, the Lakers achieved their second win in a row, with 28 points from Lonnie Walker, 20 points from LeBron James (who also had 10 rebounds and eight assists) and another 20 from Anthony Davis, who also had 16 rebounds. Off the bench, Russell Westbrook had his best game of the season, with 13 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and important contributions to improve the team, which had a great passage between the second and third quarters.
The protagonist of the night was Luka Doncic who continues to make history in the NBA. Early Thursday morning, in the victory of the Dallas Mavericks against the Utah Jazz (103-100), the Slovenian shooting guard surpassed Michael Jordan by scoring more than 30 points in seven consecutive games, the first of the 2022-2023 campaign, a mark that had not occurred since the 1962-63 season.
Doncic is the third to achieve that record in the North American league, after Jack Twyman (1959-1960) and Wilt Chamberlain (1959-1960 and 1962-1963). The legend of Philadelphia and Lakers chained 23 games in a row over thirty points. It only remains to be seen how far Doncic will go, who continues to show that he is touched by a magic wand.
Santiago de la Peña
