Luka Dončić had jokes for Dorian Finney-Smith after his big night vs. Rockets

The friendship between Luka Dončić and Dorian Finney-Smith was on full display after the Lakers’ win over the Rockets.

In Los Angeles’ victory over Houston on Monday, the Lakers received big contributions from their role players, such as Dorian Finney-Smith.

DFS, a player known for his 3-and-D ability, went nuclear against the Rockets.

He scored 20 points, and all of his made shots were 3-pointers. Finney-Smith went 6-11 from deep, which was his best offensive game since joining the Lakers.

Luka Dončić has seen these kinds of performances from Finney-Smith when they were both Mavericks.

After the win, Luka shared how he teased DFS during the game, encouraging him to shoot as much as possible.

“I just told him today if you don’t want to shoot it, I’ll shoot it,” Luka said. “Honestly, you can ask him. I think he could have shot more. There was three or four times he was open and he didn’t want to shoot it, so. That’s the only thing I told him.”

When you take 11 threes and there were even more on the table, you were clearly, as DFS has said before, “butt-naked wide-open.”

Dončić wasn’t done roasting DFS about his hesitation to let the shots fly.

“Yeah, but he talks s— in practice when he shoots with me, so I don’t see why he don’t want to shoot,” Luka said. “But no, I mean, he’s a great player. Those players, you need on a team. Never complain. Play 48 minutes, play 0, he’s never going to say a thing. He’s a fighter, man. I always love how he plays and just happy to be reunited with him.”

Clearly, Luka and DFS have a great relationship if he is willing to tease him so much on a night when he played so well. Also, as a star player, sometimes you must make it clear to a rotation guy like DFS that the best shot on the court is his.

“I always want to make the right read,” Finney-Smith said. “So if I see somebody running at me, I’ll make the swing swing [pass]. ‘Like, bro, you the hot player, shoot the ball.’ So it feels good when guys like him and Bron telling me to shoot.”

As the season concludes and the playoffs begin, DFS and other role players will be left open and dared to make their shots. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take and when he is being challenged to knock them down, DFS has to be willing to take those open jumpers.

It’s not typically DFS’ role to be a focal point of the offense. The opportunity presented itself on Monday and likely will again now that teams will be focused on stopping the Lakers’ big three of LeBron James, Austin Reaves, and Luka.

This means teams will dare DFS to win games for the Lakers and live with whatever the results are. It’s another role change for Doe, and it will take some getting used to.

“Yeah, it is,” Finney-Smith said. “Because I see people running at me and I want to make the swing, swing [pass]. For instance, we got a good look from Goody [Jordan Goodwin] , but again, Luka was like ‘Bro, you just hit five threes. What are you doing.’...I’m just happy they just kept finding me though.”

If one of the Lakers' biggest problems is encouraging DFS to be more greedy with his shots, then that’s a great place to be.

Since joining the Lakers, DFS has been a great player and often the first to come off the bench.

He is a winning player, and the fact that a superstar like Luka is giving him grief and singing his praises is all you need to know about how much he impacts winning.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.