The frustration was evident early. And it was hard to tell what was bothering the Lakers more — the missed shots or the perceived missed calls? Was it execution or exhaustion?
If it wasn’t one thing, it was the other, the Lakers losing 111-108 to the lottery-bound Brooklyn Nets, with tougher days over the next four weeks headed their way.
Playing without four of their regular rotation players because of injury Monday night, the Lakers weren’t anywhere close to their best, physically shorthanded and rapidly disengaged mentally.
“I think it was just an overall mentality just to take shortcuts tonight. We just wanted to take shortcuts,” JJ Redick said about his team postgame. “Too many… they scored 20 points on us gambling. They had 16 offensive rebounds. We ball-watched all night. We said no dare shots. I can’t, I’ll go through it, they probably made six, seven uncontested threes. Just shortcuts.
“Want to be a good team? You want to win in the NBA? You gotta do the hard stuff. We couldn’t even pass to each other. We couldn’t enter our offense, running ball screens literally at half-court. Yeah, that’s going to end up in a turnover. I don’t know what we’re doing.”
Austin Reaves, counted on to take on more of an offensive role with LeBron James missing his first game with his strained groin, never got it going. Alex Len and Trey Jemison III, the bigs the Lakers have access to with Jaxson Hayes dealing with swelling in his knee from a bone bruise, combined for only two points and five rebounds.
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And Luka Doncic, the engine the Lakers will need to push them through this brutal stretch of schedule, missed shots and looked toward the refs for whistles that never came. When he finally got his first one — midway through the third quarter, he threw his hands into the air in celebration. When a later foul was ruled on the floor, wiping out a made basket, he dismissively waved his hands at the refs in disbelief.
“I mean, at the end of the day, it was a lot,” Doncic said, admitting frustration with the officiating. “It wasn’t fair. But we still got to still play the game. I got to keep playing the game.
“But it was a lot.”
And needing a stop deep in the fourth, the Lakers forced a D’Angelo Russell miss, but the possession ended with Jarred Vanderbilt pushed to the floor and Ziaire Williams grabbing the rebound and scoring.
Doncic needed 26 shots for his 22 points to go with 12 rebounds and 12 assists. Reaves missed 11 of 14 shots to go with his eight rebounds and 10 assists.
“I’ve gotta be better,” Reaves said. “Yeah, I mean, we’ll start there with me.”
Gabe Vincent and Dalton Knecht, filling in with the starters, scored 24 and 19 points respectively, and Jordan Goodwin had 17 off the bench, but the Lakers were never good enough executing on either end.
Brooklyn shot five more threes and 11 more free throws, the Lakers (40-23) attempting only two in the first half.
Monday’s game in Brooklyn was one of the few games the Lakers have this month against a team out of the playoff picture. They finish their current trip against Milwaukee and Denver on back-to-back nights before coming back to Los Angeles for five games in seven nights.
Pregame, Redick said James’ injured groin was still being evaluated, and that the team doesn’t have a clear sense of the severity. Hayes’ knee injury is still considered day to day, though he could very likely miss more game time. Rui Hachimura, who is working toward a return from his knee injury, isn’t set for a reevaluation until the Lakers return to L.A. And Dorian Finney-Smith wasn’t available because of continuing issues with his left ankle.
It meant the Lakers started Len at center alongside Knecht, Vincent, Reaves and Doncic — hardly a group with real on-court chemistry.
The Lakers turned the ball over 15 times, leading to 19 Brooklyn points. They stayed in the game because of Vincent and Goodwin, who made 11 of the Lakers’ 19 threes.
The turnovers came in all varieties, but often stemmed from Brooklyn flying two defenders at Doncic and Reaves. Redick said it’s a simple fix: The Lakers simply passing to the open man and playing advantage basketball, but said a lack of communication was the issue keeping that from happening.
“That was important,” Doncic said. “That’s my fault and we should have done better at that.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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