Luka Doncic's six straight 35-point games put him with Kobe and Baylor

Luka Doncic scored 40 points at Sacramento on Wednesday, his sixth straight game with at least 35, and only two other Lakers have ever put together a run that long: Kobe Bryant and Elgin Baylor, ESPN's Anthony Slater reported. The six games read 52, 41, 37, 45, 42 and 40.

The streak has a narrower distinction too. Slater wrote that no player in NBA history had strung together six games in a row with at least 35 points, five rebounds, five assists and five made 3-pointers. And in the AP's game story, Doncic's 308 points through eight games made him the first player past 300 that early in a season since Michael Jordan scored 303 in 1988-89. Wilt Chamberlain is the only player to have scored more over a season's first eight games, which he did three times.

Doncic has played eight of the Lakers' nine games, missing the Oct. 28 win over the Clippers with a back injury. That is 38.5 points a game, and the Lakers are 7-2.

Where it compares

Coach JJ Redick put the stretch alongside last March as probably the hottest he has seen Doncic play, when Doncic averaged 37.5 points over 16 games, including a 60-point night at Miami. Doncic was less sure. Asked whether he had ever been hotter, he told reporters: "Maybe. I don't know."

Much of the damage is coming early. Wednesday was his sixth straight game with 20 or more points by halftime; Slater found only two such streaks in the past 30 seasons, one by Doncic in Dallas in 2023 and one by Allen Iverson in 2005. Against Sacramento he made jumpers from 16, 27, 29 and 30 feet during a personal 11-2 run in the second quarter; Redick said three straight shots like that had turned a tie game into a nine- or 10-point lead.

He is also scoring efficiently. Across the five games before Sacramento he shot 53.2% from the field and 44.7% from 3, ESPN's Dave McMenamin reported after the Miami game, and on Wednesday he made 12 of 13 free throws.

One technical fewer

The NBA rescinded the technical foul Doncic picked up late in the second quarter of Monday's 138-117 win over Miami, ESPN reported on Wednesday, which drops his season total to one. The count matters for him: a 16th regular-season technical brings an automatic one-game suspension, and Doncic has reached 16 in four of his eight seasons, including last season, when he sat out a March 30 game against Washington.

He drew another technical at Golden State last Friday, in a 112-95 loss in which he scored 37. Late in the third quarter at Sacramento he pointed out a courtside fan who had thrown the ball at official Chelisa Painter, and security removed the fan, the AP reported.

The Lakers host Portland tonight, the team that beat them 136-129 on Oct. 27 despite 41 from Doncic. The full schedule is on the team page, and this week's recap has every game.