What a fun game. I know watching all 82 games can be a stretch for a lot of fans, but if you missed this one and have the means to do it, you should try to watch it back.

This was the most fun Lakers and Luka game of the season. I’ve written a lot in recent weeks about vibes, how disjointed this team has looked at times, and how difficult this transition year can be to play through. But to the Lakers’ credit, even when things looked bleak, they never folded. In fact, over this recent stretch, they have shown a newfound resilience, pulling off several impressive comebacks.

In this one, a comeback was not needed. It was a dominant two-way performance, with the Lakers overcoming some ridiculous Bulls three-point shot-making through the first 29 minutes of the game.

With this 129–118 win, the Lakers have now won four of their last five games and picked up another quality road victory against a Bulls team that had been on a roll, winning four straight and playing its best basketball of the season.

Halfway through, the Lakers are having a great road trip, winning three of the first four games, with matchups against the Cavaliers, Wizards, Knicks, and Nets still to come, and Austin Reaves’ return on the horizon.

Today’s notes:

1. A Luka MVP, ceiling-type game (🎞️VIDEO)

2. Great two-way game, flying at both ends (🎞️VIDEO)

3. Defense-to-offense is becoming a trend 📈

4. Rui Benchi-mura (🎞️VIDEO)

5. Ayton still trending in the wrong direction (🎞️VIDEO)

1-A Luka MVP, ceiling-type game (🎞️VIDEO)

This was the most loose, most fun Luka game in a long while. And when Luka is having fun, good stuff usually happens. This was his best game of the season, a blend of absurd scoring and playmaking in the same night, with Luka Dončić seamlessly switching between the two based on the Bulls’ coverages and shredding every look Billy Donovan threw at him.

Fourteen points in the first quarter. Four assists in the second. Total dominance and a full takeover in the third, matching the Bulls’ absurd shot-making on his own with 20 points. And finally, two late dagger threes to ice the game down the stretch in the fourth. All of it sprinkled with no-look fakes, behind-the-back skips, and silky smooth step-backs.

I’ve said this a couple of times this season. Luka hasn’t been as consistent as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Nikola Jokić, but when he is making his threes, his ceiling can rise higher than either of the two MVPs.

And after a rough December, when Luka Dončić shot just 29 percent from three, the step-back has been falling lately. He knocked down eight threes last night, just one shy of his career high of nine, which he has reached twice, and the eighth time overall he has hit eight or more threes. He is now shooting 39 percent from three across 13 games in January, while averaging 34.2 points and 8.9 assists per game and cutting his turnovers down to 4.0.

If Dončić can keep this up in the second half of the season and the Lakers keep winning, he could make a strong push for his first MVP trophy.

2-Great two-way game, flying at both ends (🎞️VIDEO)