The Luka Doncic era of the Los Angeles Lakers is in full swing now after their dominant win over the Denver Nuggets last night. Doncic had by far his best game in his brief Lakers tenure thus far as he recorded 32 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. Doncic’s playmaking shined as he diced up Denver’s defense and connected with LeBron James many times , and his scoring finally returned to the level Los Angeles was able to control the game for most of its duration due to explosive scoring from James, Austin Reaves, and Rui Hachimura, but their defensive game plan against Nikola Jokic was probably the largest reason they were able to leave Denver on a high note.

“I thought our guys' conviction to execute the game plan and stick with that game plan was excellent. I told the group, there's certain moments throughout the season that you just get up for. I pretty much haven't slept since we walked off the court in Portland. I spent a lot of time on this game, our staff spent a lot of time on this game.” said Lakers head coach JJ Redick

You could see in the game that the Lakers game plan on the defensive end had one main goal, crowd and swarm Jokic whenever he gets the ball no matter what. Los Angeles showed Jokic multiple bodies on the majority of his touches, often leaving players open in order to execute this. While it did burn them a few times, overall it succeeded in limiting Jokic’s scoring impact and shot attempts. Denver turned the ball over 20 times last night, with Jokic having an uncharacteristic six turnovers himself.

Throughout the game, Redick would have someone body up with Jokic, whether it was James, Hayes, or Hachimura, and then also have someone come off their man and go double Jokic. Aaron Gordon and Russell Westbrook were left unwatched in order to deploy this scheme because the threat of Jokic scoring is much more fearsome than what those two would do with the ball. While Gordon and Westbrook did have good scoring nights, scoring 24 and 17 points respectively, this scheme limited Jokic to a mere 12 points on 2/7 from the field.

Here, James is guarding Jokic’s post up and as soon as he spins, Hachimura and Doncic are there to swarm him, which causes Jokic to throw a rare errant pass and turn the ball over. With both Gordon and Westbrook on one side of the floor, it made it simple for Doncic and Hachimura to slide over and help.

Once again, James is guarding the initial Jokic post up and a double comes from Hachimura, which forces Jokic to try to feed Gordon under the rim, but ultimately ends in a turnover.

The bulk of the scheme was sending multiple defenders on the ball when Jokic had it, but the rotations on the back end after these double teams were good as well. Los Angeles showed a lot of activity on defense, being in passing lanes, being very physical on drives, really making Denver work for everything. Even Doncic who has been admonished for his subpar defense in the past was active in the paint as a defender, and in passing lanes and transition, as he finished 4 steals and a block.

Doncic’s passing shined last night as well, he seemed to be very comfortable manning this Lakers offense, and he especially seemed to have great chemistry with James.

Here, in the opening moments of the game Doncic finds James sprinting down the court with an outlet pass for an easy dunk in transition. Having another player that can make passes like this gives the Lakers offense some extra potency.

Doncic runs a pick n’ roll here with Hayes. Due to his shooting ability, Jokic is forced to step up to the level of the ball screen, leaving Hayes to cut behind him. This puts Christian Braun in a position to make a decision and try to guess where Doncic is going to pass the ball. Doncic freezes Braun in place by faking the pass to James while looking in his direction, only to fire it to a wide open Hayes under the basket. This is high-level manipulation on this pass, and Doncic does this on a regular basis.

On this play, Doncic calls for a Hayes screen and he rejects it, which prompts Braun and Jokic to double him. Doncic somehow finds a way to hook a pass over both Braun and Jokic to James, which he placed perfectly and led James to the rim for a dunk. To get this pass off, and place it so well just shows how special of a passer Doncic is.

Doncic looked more like himself as a scorer, knocking down four out of nine triples, and getting to the free throw line multiple times. Before the game, Redick said he wanted to see Doncic have a “blackout episode” and he surely got his wish. Redick seemed to have Doncic with the ball in his hands more than previous games, and Doncic used these touches to bludgeon this Nuggets defense repeatedly with precise shooting and strong finishing.

Last night’s win felt like a statement victory for this Lakers team. Denver had won nine games in a row, and they were in their building as well. But through a resurgent performance from Doncic, huge scoring nights from multiple players, and a stout defensive scheme against Jokic, they were able to pull out the big win. The Doncic trade excited many fans because of the thought of having him in the future, and what teams could be built around him down the road, but with a performance like this, it leads one to wonder how far this Laker team could go in the playoffs as early as this season.