LA Lakers head coach JJ Redick has offered an update on Luka Doncic’s health condition after the team’s Game 3 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Slovenian looked visibly unwell during the game where he scored 17 points on 6-16 shooting.
LeBron James tried to carry the load by adding 38 points, but his efforts were not enough to contain the Timberwolves team, who secured a 116-104 win on the night.
Luka Doncic had five turnovers in the game and was not able to make any impact and JJ Redick has revealed the reason behind this in his post game press conference.
Redick revealed that Doncic had not been feeling well for the past 24 hours and that is what led to a rare poor outing for the Lakers.
The 26-year-old has scored 30 or more in six of the last seven playoff games against the Timberwolves and even looked solid in the first two games of the series.
But it was reportedly a stomach bug that slowed him down during the game as during halftime he even sat down on the bench and spoke to the LA Lakers staff about the pain he was experiencing near the abdomen area.
Redick said: “He hasn’t been feeling well for the last 24 hours, I don’t know how much he slept last night his stomach was bothering him, he was vomiting all afternoon, I’m not sure what happened at halftime, I’ll find out , he’s really under the weather.”
The Lakers performance in Game 3 was another indication of how important Doncic is to the team.
In his absence, James tried to do the heavy lifting of the team, but no one else contributed as only Doncic and him were the players who scored in double-figures.
Redick, who showcased his fiery coaching in Game 2 stated turnovers cost the game for the Purple and Gold, a problem they have been facing for a while.
The scores were tied at 103, but Lakers just did not have enough to pull through, while Timberwolves led by Anthony Edwards‘ brilliance showed up in the clutch and took a 2-1 lead in the series.
The 17-point performance in Game 3 was only Doncic’s second worst playoff scoring performance.
He will be hoping to step things up in Game 4 and help the team steal a win on the road to make things interesting as the series heads back home in Game 5.
