It has become a theme of Luka Doncic's career in the NBA, the repeated pleading looks toward referees when he suffers some indignity or other on the basketball floor. It happened in Dallas, and now, it's happening with the Lakers.
On Monday against the Nets, playing without LeBron James as as James deals with a groin injury, Doncic clearly struggled with his shooting and, more importantly, struggled with handling the Nets' intense on-ball defense. Doncic posted a triple-double, with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists, but was just 8-for-26 shooting from the field.
The Lakers lost, 111-108, to a Brooklyn team that is clearly tanking.
Coach JJ Redick was not happy about the Lakers defense and their lack of communication and sloppiness on offense, much of which began with Doncic.
"I think it was just an overall mentality just to take shortcuts tonight. We just wanted to take shortcuts ..." Redick said postgame. "We ball-watched all night. We said no dare shots. I can't, I'll go through it, they probably made six, seven uncontested 3s. Just shortcuts.
"Want to be a good team? You want to win in the NBA? You gotta do the hard stuff. We couldn't even pass to each other. We couldn't enter our offense, running ball screens literally at half-court. Yeah, that's going to end up in a turnover. I don't know what we're doing."
Luka on the officiating tonight:
"I'm not gonna say anything… but everyone saw the game and know what happened"pic.twitter.com/cIQz89YJHq
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) March 11, 2025
While Doncic took responsibility for the lack of communication, another issue that flared up during the game was the silence on the part of the referees. Doncic took 26 shots but was not sent to the free-throw line at all during the game.
Asked about it in his postgame presser, Doncic stuck with innuendo.
"I'm not gonna say anything," Doncic said with a nervous laugh. "But I think anybody who saw the game, they know what happened."
And there were calls to be made.
This is unbelievable someone gotta pay the price for this unfair treatment! Luka has a back injury he pushed him without the ball the ref is looking and he still doesn't call it! pic.twitter.com/PM8e6bKrV6
— A Y A (@LD7AYA8) March 11, 2025
Luka cursing at the ref in Serbian again pic.twitter.com/da2KYHisVp
— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) March 11, 2025
Luka got T'd up because the ref didn't give him a shooting foul for this pic.twitter.com/zoxf7cCY6f
— outbreezy (@outbreezyWC) March 11, 2025
The Lakers are now off to an 0-2 start on their four-game road trip, with a very difficult back-to-back in Milwaukee (Thursday) and Denver (Friday).
Related: Luka Doncic's Reaction to 'Hollywood' Treatment With Lakers Revealed
Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 9:10 AM.