Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic struggled in his team’s Game 3 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night. While he stuffed the stat sheet with 17 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, the Slovenian guard shot just 6-for-16 from the field. The Lakers were also outscored by 16 points in his 40 minutes of action.
Speaking with reporters postgame, Lakers head coach JJ Redick revealed Doncic was severely under the weather on Friday and had been vomiting all day (via Lakers reporter Mike Trudell).
Owning the second-highest career scoring average in NBA Playoffs history, this performance was uncharacteristic for Doncic.
Not only does Doncic’s illness help explain his poor shooting in Game 3, but it also justifies a decision he made after the game. Despite it being standard for a team’s stars to speak with reporters after every playoff game, Doncic opted not to on Friday.
“Luka Doncic will not speak to the media tonight, per the Lakers,” Jovan Buha of The Athletic wrote on X.
Friday’s showing was a stark difference from how Doncic performed in the first two games of this series. In Game 1, the five-time All-NBA guard turned in 37 points and eight rebounds despite the 117-95 loss. He followed that with 31 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in the Game 2 victory.
With Game 4 being on Sunday, the Lakers hope Doncic will recovery quickly as they hope to avoid bringing a dreaded 3-1 deficit back to Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
