Luka Doncic's 51-point masterclass on Thursday night was another reminder that Doncic is the most effortless scorer in the NBA. The offensive explosion from Luka powered the Los Angeles Lakers to their fourth-straight victory, and LA was tied for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference entering Saturday.
With the playoffs fast approaching, and with Doncic flaunting top form, it's worth acknowledging to Lakers doubters that Luka has a history of elevating his play in the postseason. This means LA could be in for a surprise run at a title.
Luka's tendency for playoff heroics gives the Lakers contention hopes
If you're looking at Luka's 26-29 playoff record as an indication of his postseason performance, you're missing the point, which is this: Doncic led multiple Dallas Mavericks teams to unexpected playoff success, due to his postseason scoring prowess and natural flair for clutch play.
In the 2020 bubble playoffs, a 21-year-old Luka hit a game-winning, step-back three in overtime against the Los Angeles Clippers to stave off a 3-1 series deficit. In case you've forgotten how epic this was, take a look below.
That wasn't Luka's only game-clinching 3 in a playoff game. In 2024, in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, Luka hit a dagger 3 over Rudy Gobert and the Minnesota Timberwolves to give the Mavs a 2-0 series lead.
What made the shot even more cold-blooded was that it was on the road in Minnesota. (Gobert fans, maybe skip the video below for your mental health).
Moreover, Luka's playoff history isn't the tale of a couple of huge moments surrounded by status quo production. He levels up in the postseason, in general. Luka's 30.9 points per game in the playoffs exceeds his career scoring average in the regular season (29.1).
A 22-year-old Doncic averaged 35.7 points per game in a 7-game bloodbath with the Clippers in the first round of the 2021 playoffs, with Doncic dropping 46 points in the Game 7 loss.
The following postseason, Luka led a No. 4-seed Mavs squad to the Western Conference Finals with a 31.7 PPG playoffs. This was pre-Kyrie Irving, by the way. Dallas had no business getting to the WCF, but they did have Playoff Luka.
When Luka Doncic is healthy, he's unstoppable in the playoffs
"But Luka lost in the 2024 NBA Finals! And he lost in the first round of the 2025 playoffs!" Such are the arguments of passionate Luka haters who are ignoring the fact that Doncic's body wasn't close to 100 percent in either of the aforementioned series.
In the 2024 Finals, Luka was suffering from multiple lower body ailments that had accrued over the course of the season and had become more acutely painful during Dallas' playoff run. He was basically mummified in ice bags every time he came out of the game.
And last season, in his debut playoffs with the Lake Show, Doncic was infamously out of shape and still getting used to his new team. LA didn't stand a chance against the Wolves, and for what it's worth, Luka still averaged 30.2 points per game in the 5-contest series loss.
All of this isn't to say that Luka deserves a free pass for his conditioning and durability problems. The point here is that, if and when Luka is healthy, he's absolutely a playoff riser, with the big moments and overall massive production to show for it.
As such, Luka's habit of taking his game to another leve in the postseason is something that could alter the Western Conference landscape in this coming playoffs. A lot of people have discarded the 2025-26 Lakers as an assumed first or second round exit. Fair enough. Doncic will need some help if LA is going to make a surprising run.
But if we're about to see the Playoff Luka that's emerged in multiple postseasons before, the Lakers' ceiling is much higher than most people realize. Playoff Luka is an entity that no one can stop, not even the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs of the present.