Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers were taken to the woodshed by the Boston Celtics on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Calif.
It did not look good at all for the Lakers, who absorbed a 111-89 loss against their biggest rivals.
Doncic paced Los Angeles with 25 points, but he shot just 9-for-22 from the field and only had six attempts from the free-throw line. His defense looked suspect, as evidenced by his game-worst -21 plus/minus. He could have finished with a little better plus/minus, though, if he only decided to run back on defense instead of trying to argue with a referee after a made 3-point shot in the second quarter.
After getting challenged by Celtics star Jaylen Brown on that shot, Doncic fell to the ground and made a referee know that he felt he was fouled. No whistle was blown, however, and the Celtics quickly pushed the ball, taking advantage of the Lakers being down a defender as Doncic argued with the ref.
Boston succeeded, as Derrick White got the inbound pass and immediately threw a long pass to Hugo Gonzalez, who made a wide-open lay-up that minimized the damage of Doncic’s triple.
You can see that play here.
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 23, 2026
The Slovenian superstar is unquestionably elite, but his defense and tendency to complain to officials continue to fuel his detractors.
This is the biggest reason I can’t stand watching this guy play. The NBA needs to do something about foul baiting.
— MexiCAN (@MoNSpringBranch) February 23, 2026
Give him some break, he just wants to get his points and call it a day
— jtfor3 (@__Tiduz__) February 23, 2026
The duality of Luka
— Chuck Leupen (@chuckleupen) February 23, 2026
Funniest part about this is that he wasn’t even fouled
— 🗽 (@sprinkoe) February 23, 2026
We’ve seen this exact same movie before pic.twitter.com/0wlPWC4hTG
— EJ’s Waterboy (@EJzWaterboy) February 23, 2026
Doncic can’t make everyone like him, and his priority with the Lakers is less about winning fans’ hearts and more about leading the team. Either way, taking time to complain and not having a sense of urgency on that play was not a great look for him.
The former NBA scoring champion will look to be better on Tuesday, when Los Angeles hosts the Orlando Magic.
