Lakers blown out by the Nets
Nets demolish Lakers in a disappointing performance
By Tristan Ell
The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the red-hot Brooklyn Nets in a 130-112 defeat. The Lakers fell to a record of 21-22 on Friday in a performance headlined by their poor defense and inability to score in the second half.
The Lakers started the game strong offensively, taking a 68-62 halftime lead. However, they could not sustain their offensive success, being outscored by 16 points in the third quarter before the game was completely out of reach in the 4th quarter.
Cam Thomas went off for the Nets scoring 33 points off the bench along with 6 other Nets players who went for double-digit points. The Lakers struggled to defend the 3-point line as the Nets made 19 threes with the Lakers giving up numerous open looks during the game.
Anthony Davis was one of the few bright spots as he was the Lakers' leading scorer with 26 points. Jared Vanderbilt also contributed with a season-high 10 points, along with D'Angelo Russell who dropped 20 points.
Lebron James struggled in the second half, shooting an inefficient 9 of 22 for the game along with Austin Reaves who was 0 of 6 from three-point range scoring only 9 points.
The Lakers saw limited production from their bench with notable players Christian Wood, Max Christie and Rui Hachimura scoring a combined 11 points.
Darvin Ham said postgame, “We watch a ton of film, We’ll definitely do that, watch this game and make it more about our principles and, again, the type of team we want to be. It’s over for the excuses, man. We have to play basketball.”
In a loaded Western Conference every game has seemed to matter more than ever. Losing to a Nets team who had lost 14 of their 17 previous games is undoubtedly a disappointing loss and may drive the Lakers to make changes at the upcoming trade deadline.
The Lakers remain 10th in the Western Conference standings, falling below .500 and struggling since winning the In-Season tournament championship. The Lakers will look to get back on track Sunday against the struggling Portland Trail Blazers and Tuesday against their LA rival the Los Angeles Clippers.