It’s not an easy task stopping the Lakers’ Luka Doncic if you’re a defender. In all likelihood, you’ll probably need to foul him just to halt his momentum. But that kind of contact can leave you frustrated, especially when the calls go the other way. But what happens when voicing your frustration gets you into trouble? Doc Rivers, Anthony Edwards, Joe Mazzulla, Steve Kerr – the biggest of names have bit the bullet on this front. Well, that’s exactly the fate Luka somehow avoided at tonight’s post-game formalities!

The Nets played quite a physical game. Even so, the Lakers didn’t see too many calls go their way. During the post-game presser, a reporter asked Luka to clarify his earlier comments about officiating tonight. But Luka was smart enough not to take the obvious bait.

If you’re wondering what Luka was clarifying, well, a reporter had asked if the Slovenian and the JJ Redick-led team were frustrated after only shooting 2 free throws in the first half… Doncic, seemingly dejected, said, “At the end of the day, it was a lot. It wasn’t fair. But we still got to still play the game. I got to keep playing the game.”

The new Laker re-iterated his point, again within seconds, saying, “But it was a lot.” This was probably why the other reporter thought Luka Doncic was hinting at the underwhelming officiating during tonight’s game. So, the media present poked him further.

“I’m not going to say anything. But I think everybody saw the game, so they know what happened,” the Slovenian further told the reporters, only implying, not stating anything directly. As fans, we feel this was the right move for him. Luka was clearly frustrated tonight, visibly and literally. And in his frustration, he could have ended up criticizing the officiating tonight. This isn’t something the NBA appreciates, you know? And Doncic may have been subject to a rather unnecessary five-figure fine from the NBA.

Judging from past experiences, penalties of this nature usually range from $25,000 to $35,000. Just recently, Pascal Siakam had to learn this the hard way. He was slapped with a $25,000 fine for “confronting and directing profane language toward game officials,” per the NBA. And he’s not the only one. We’d be remiss if we didn’t bring up the most fined player this season, Anthony Edwards. Ant has paid $285,000 in fines to the NBA this season. And $35,000 of that amount was owed to him for making an obscene gesture at an official during a game back in November. Just goes to show that you don’t even need words to get on the NBA’s bad side.

So Luka dodged a bullet tonight when he didn’t clarify the media member’s query.

Or maybe the dramatic media were just fishing for a sound bite. Who knows? At this point, who even wants to know? We’re just glad Luka isn’t in hot water with the league right now. Even so, he’ll want to put tonight’s game behind him. Regardless, here are our takeaways from the game tonight.

JJ Redick calls out his team’s performance as ‘humble’ Luka Doncic has an off night against the Nets

Now, anyone who caught tonight’s game may be wondering, How could Luka have an off night if he put up a triple-double?

We’ll get to that, but let’s talk about the Los Angeles Lakers first. They played with a starting lineup that we’ve never seen before tonight: Len, Vincent, Doncic, Reaves, Knecht; and Vanderbilt, Jemison III, Milton, Goodwin rotating off the bench. And it really showed in their performance against the Nets. JJ Redick’s team lacked chemistry and transitioned quite poorly.

They weren’t able to move the ball as fluidly as they usually do, and their off-the-ball movement didn’t look too great either. JJ even called out his team’s lack of communication flaw in the post-game press conference. “It was a very low-level communication game for our team…We couldn’t even pass to each other. We couldn’t enter our offense running ball screens at literally halfcourt,” said Redick.

JJ also added that he wasn’t a fan of his team looking for shortcuts. And it’s not hard to see why. Once the rotation players got used to playing with each other and actually started moving the ball well, the Lakers looked like the team that had just gone on an 8-win streak. Owing to those flashes of brilliance, players like Dalton Kneecht, Jordan Goodwin, and Gabe Vincent were able to combine for 60 points tonight.

However, the team simply resorting to handing the ball over to the likes of Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic may have been what cost them the win tonight. In an attempt to do so, the LA side turned the ball over 15 times, leading to a damaging 19-point haul for the eventual victors. This brings us to Luka. He only shot 3-10 from beyond the arc and made just 8 field goals from 26 attempts.

A night where Luka shoots at just over 30% means the other team has A LOT of scoring opportunities to capitalize on. And the Nets capitalized well on the 16 offensive rebounds handed to them. Doncic, though, did take responsibility for everything, when he said: “That’s my fault and we should have done better at that.” All in all, the Lakers were not at their best tonight by any means.

Luka specifically struggled despite his triple-double. He and his team cannot afford any more nights like this if they want to carry any meaningful momentum into the postseason! And with LeBron James “expected to miss at least 1-to-2 weeks due to a groin strain” per Shams Charania, it is going to be a difficult end to the ongoing road trip and next few games for the Lakers.