The Los Angeles Lakers had missed their first 15 three-point attempts and trailed the Portland Trail Blazers by double figures as the first half ran out. Luka Dončić pushed the ball up the floor, stopped near Portland’s free-throw circle and let it go from 61 feet — the Associated Press’s figure, though the NBA’s own clip of the play calls it 62. It caught backboard and went in. The caption on the league’s post pointed out Bruce Springsteen, sitting courtside, not believing it.
“I think it changes the whole energy in the team and in the gym,” Dončić said afterward, in an account by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press. “I thought it was an important shot to make — so that’s why I decided to make it.”
Lakers coach JJ Redick, quoted in the same AP story, has seen enough of these to have moved his baseline: “When he shoots it from three-quarter court, you’re surprised when it doesn’t at least go in and out, hit the rim.” Walker Kessler was less analytical. “When you’ve got a guy that can make shots like that, it’s fun basketball,” the center told the AP.
The heave was worth three points, and it was not why the Lakers won. That was the third quarter, in which Dončić scored 20 of his 53 and Los Angeles ran off 17 straight points, turning a 16-point deficit into a 16-point lead early in the fourth. Portland cut the margin back to four before Dončić’s jumper in the lane inside the final 30 seconds settled it, 124-118 — a fourth consecutive win, against the team that entered the night with the best record in the Western Conference. How the rest of the roster held up is in our player grades.
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