SALT LAKE CITY — The Lakers looked finished before the first quarter even ended. Down 47-29 and sinking fast at the Delta Center, Los Angeles needed something extraordinary just to survive the night. Luka Doncic gave them a lot more than that, erupting for a season-high 52 points to erase an 18-point deficit and lift the Lakers past the Utah Jazz, 132-123, and keep Los Angeles unbeaten at 3-0, according to Yahoo Sports.

Doncic shot 17 of 30 from the field, including 8 of 18 from three, and added 10 assists and 8 rebounds, scoring 25 of his points before halftime alone. It was his 10th career 50-point game and, per the box score recapped by CBS News Los Angeles, made him just the third player in Lakers franchise history to post 50 points and 10 assists in the same game, joining Elgin Baylor and Jerry West.

A Comeback Built in Waves

Utah built its cushion early and still led by double digits into the second quarter before the Lakers answered with a 21-point swing in the frame to grab a 74-71 halftime lead. The game kept swinging from there: Doncic's step-back three with 2.1 seconds left in the third put Los Angeles up 103-100, only for the Jazz to rip off a 13-1 run and take a 111-110 edge midway through the fourth. Doncic answered again, tying the score with another three, drawing a charge on Utah guard Keyonte George, then sinking two free throws to put the Lakers back in front for good. Austin Reaves iced it with a three-pointer with 33.8 seconds remaining before Doncic closed the book at the line.

Reaves finished with 29 points on 4-of-5 shooting from deep, and he and Doncic combined to go 21 of 24 from the free-throw line down the stretch. Collin Sexton added 13 off the bench. For Utah, Lauri Markkanen poured in 28, Keyonte George nearly posted a triple-double with 24 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists, and rookie Ace Bailey chipped in 17 points and 12 rebounds. Walker Kessler, dealt to Los Angeles in a July sign-and-trade, managed just 2 points and 7 rebounds in his first game back against his old team, per ClutchPoints.

"HIS EFFICIENCY, IT'S OFF THE ROOF. AND JUST TO HAVE HIM NEXT TO ME LEADING THIS TEAM, IT'S AWESOME," Doncic said of Reaves afterward, according to comments relayed by Time News.

Coach JJ Redick, who has leaned hard on his two lead guards through the season's opening week, had his own one-liner for Reaves: "Mr. Consistency." Doncic was even complimentary toward the man guarding him most of the night, saying of Kessler's homecoming, "Obviously it wasn't his best game, but we won the game and he … had two fantastic first games, which was awesome."

The win pushed the Lakers to 8-1 in their last nine meetings with Utah and kept them perfect through three games, a start built almost entirely on Doncic's workload after an offseason in which Los Angeles reshaped its frontcourt around him, including the Kessler acquisition. Utah slipped to 1-2 as it continues retooling around its young core of George and Bailey.

Los Angeles is off Monday before hosting a 2-0 Portland team Tuesday night, a measuring-stick game against another fast-starting Western Conference club. The Jazz, meanwhile, host Memphis the same night looking to right themselves after letting a big lead slip away.