Luka Doncic once again carried the Los Angeles Lakers on the scoreboard, but the numbers only told part of the story. In a 111-103 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, he finished with 30 points and 10 assists while leading the offense. Still, despite the stat line and the result, Doncic made it clear afterward that the performance did not feel dominant to him.

“We were just joking about it,” head coach JJ Redick told reporters after the game, detailing a short conversation the two had after Doncic hit an off-balance three late in the game. “‘As soon as you shot it, I knew it was going in.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, so did I.’ And then he’s like, ‘I just can’t make a normal shot right now!‘”

One sequence captured the night perfectly. Luka Doncic rose for a three-pointer over three defenders, with even a Los Angeles Lakers teammate in his space, and still drained it. JJ Redick could only laugh on the sidelines. Yet Doncic’s post-game admission was no punchline. Behind the highlight was a real concern about how the Lakers are functioning, even in wins.

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Despite logging 50% shooting (11-22) in tonight’s game, Doncic shot just 3-10 from long range, and didn’t make any of his first-half threes. This has been a particular area of struggle for the Don, who has struggled with efficiency and turnovers this year more than at any other point in his career, averaging a career-high 4.5 turnovers and 31.9% from three-point range, the worst since his second year.

This is due to a few reasons. Just recently, Rich Paul explained on Game Over that Doncic has been struggling with shot-making due to having to create too many perimeter shots for himself, which lowers his energy. Paul added that Doncic is a dead-eye when taking more catch-and-shoot threes, since his posture is more squared and his stature is stationary.

Perhaps that is the adjustment the Lakers need to make.

LeBron James Explains Why the Lakers Begin Everything With Luka and the Pick-and-Roll

On the Mind the Game podcast, LeBron James detailed why the Lakers’ offense runs the way it does.

“You’re playing the numbers game,” he told co-host Steve Nash. “Why do we start a lot of our plays with pick and roll? Because we have such a dynamic pick-and-roll player in [Luka Doncic].”

The action that James described forces two defenders to react, which, in this case, are Doncic’s matchup and the screener’s defender. The attention generated is the basis of creating open shots.

James also referenced old-school entry points for the offense: elbow touches, jab steps, face-ups in the midrange. These still exist, and the Lakers use them, but they’re no longer as ubiquitous or the foundation of offenses anymore. Pick-and-roll survives because it’s scalable, and it’s math. If Doncic turns the corner, help arrives. If help arrives, the ball moves, and if it doesn’t, he scores. That initial decision is exactly what tilts games for the Lakers.

That’s why the Lakers are seventh in pick-and-roll possessions per game, because Doncic’s gravity almost always creates the first crack in the defense, which lets cutters, shooters, and secondary passers build their own advantages. As long as Doncic remains one of the most devastating pick-and-roll operators, the Lakers will keep using it as a foundational offensive piece.