Professor Doncic wields whiteboard, but Lakers still fall

With several players sidelined — including James — triple-double fails to topple Spurs.

- THỤC NHI NGUYEN

LUKA DONCIC, shown shooting over the Spurs' Victor Wembanyama, aimed to galvanize his Lakers teammates by using a whiteboard.

ERIC GAY Associated Press

Luka Doncic was scoring baskets, assisting them and, even after the San Antonio Spurs tried to blitz him to force the basketball out of the Lakers superstar’s hands, Doncic was drawing plays too.

Doncic’s one-man show of 38 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists couldn’t make up for the absences of LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura in the Lakers’ 107-91 loss to the Spurs on Wednesday, but Doncic’s leadership for his shorthanded team may have shined brighter than this fourth triple-double of the season.

Saddled with almost all ball-handling responsibilities, Doncic faced regular double-teams from the Spurs (26-11).

During a timeout, the 26-year-old grabbed the whiteboard to instruct his teammates what to do when he was getting blitzed. Forward Jake LaRavia couldn't recall another time Doncic had done that this season.

"Tonight was probably the best [leadership] I’ve seen from him as a Laker," said guard Gabe Vincent, who returned from a back injury that kept him out for nine games to score six points with two assists in an 18-minute restriction. “Unfortunately, we didn’t come up with a win, but he was encouraging, he was uplifting, he made the right read nine times out of 10 down the floor. He was giving us everything he had and encouraging guys along the way.”