Copyright yardbarker
One game. That’s all it took for Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic to shut all the chatter around him. The Slovenian superstar’s 44 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists led the Purple & Gold to an impressive 117-112 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, as he returned to the court after a three-game hiatus. While Doncic made his return look easy on Friday night, that wasn’t the case. On the contrary, there was a considerable doubt surrounding his recovery before this clash, as initially he was supposed to be re-evaluated after a week. So what changed? Well, reportedly, the five-time All-NBA guard made massive strides in recovery and felt way better than expected. As a result of this, the 26-year-old was cleared to play against the Grizzlies on Friday night. In fact, Luka Doncic himself confirmed this after his terrific comeback performance. “Yeah. At the beginning, we probably didn’t think I’m going to play Friday,” Doncic told the reporters postgame. He pointed out that initially, the Lakers’ medical staff and even he did not think playing against Memphis would be possible. “But, after getting everyday treatment, every day working, I felt way better. So we decided we flow out here, we see how I feel, and then if I’m if I’m good to go, I’ll play,” he further elaborated. Doncic pointed out that after receiving treatment daily, he felt much better. Well, that was quite evident from the point guard’s historic 44-point performance. So far this season, Luka has already missed a fair amount of games due to a couple of finger and leg-related issues. Although this alone would’ve been a massive blow for the Purple & Gold, what made things worse was the timing of these injuries. That’s because the storied franchise is already missing LeBron James, due to a sciatica injury. So, the Slovenian’s fitness struggles only made things worse for the team. However, his postgame statement has indicated that he might just be past these early scares as he now looks to build on this momentum in the coming games.
