How Matas Buzelis unleashed Luka Doncics 51-point performance

As Matas Buzelis walked out of the Bulls’ locker room, his agent, Michael Tellem, jokingly ribbed him.“You woke up a sleeping giant,” he said, flashing a smile. Buzelis shook his head. The 21-year-old forward, who’s in his second season in the NBA, learned a hard lesson in his team’s 142-130 loss to the Lakers on Thursday. Trash talk Luka Doncic, and you will pay. Doncic erupted for 51 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, his first 50-point performance as a Laker.

He shot 55 percent from the field, including going 9-for-14 from beyond the arc. What set him off? “Somebody started talking to me,” Doncic said.“So, that woke me up.”Who?“Matas Buzelis,” he said.

“I was surprised, I was shocked.…I’m not gonna say what he said, But if I said that, I would definitely get a tech.”Doncic added that Buzelis started the trash talk.“Yeah,” he said.

“Not very nice.I was surprised.”Buzelis, however, had a different version of events.

“Is that what he said?” asked Buzelis, who had 22 points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.“Yeah, I’d rather not say what I said.

But he said something to me first.That’s why I had to respond.

I’m not going to say what he said either.But I feel like I responded to what he said.”The exchange in question happened in the second quarter. Doncic went from scoring 12 points on 4-for-11 shooting in the first quarter, to transforming into a scoring machine.

He had 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the second.He had 17 points in the third.

And he poured in 10 points on 3-for-4 shooting in the fourth. Buzelis got under Doncic’s skin.After nearly every made shot, Doncic gesticulated at Buzelis.

He talked to him nonstop.He turned into a madman who was hellbent on making Buzelis pay for whatever transgression he committed.  California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.

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