LOS ANGELES — The Lakers had hoped their previous game would be a template for the rest of the season, a compelling victory they could look back on and learn from.
But instead of mimicking that game plan, the Lakers resorted to familiar bad habits on Thursday night and lost to the Charlotte Hornets, 135-117, at Crypto.com Arena.
The Lakers lacked the high energy they had two nights earlier against the Atlanta Hawks. They were disjointed, missed shots, couldn’t defend the younger Hornets, scored just 16 points in the second quarter and put up a half-hearted attempt to get back in the game after losing their lead.
“We just have to keep going. This league is a game of runs. Make-or-miss teams are making shots and that’s putting a lot of pressure on our defense,” veteran guard Marcus Smart said. “That Hawks game, we just kind of played freely. We didn’t care if we made it, missed it. We played every possession like it was our last. And that’s kind of what we have to do.”
The Lakers put together a collective effort on offense and defense in their previous game with all five starters scoring in double figures. But they couldn’t match the defensive grind against the Hornets.
On Thursday night, Doncic did what he always does. He took the ball and scored 39 points on 15-of-26 shooting (6 for 11 from 3-point range).
But as good as Doncic was, the league’s leading scorer couldn’t drag the Lakers past the Hornets, who got 30 points and nine 3-pointers from former Chino Hills High star LaMelo Ball.
The Lakers (24-15) lost for the fourth time in five games and the eighth time in their past 13, despite 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists from LeBron James.
Jake LaRavia added another 18 points, Deandre Ayton had 12 and Marcus Smart scored 10 as the starting five all finished in double figures again despite another loss to a sub-.500 team.
The Lakers couldn’t slow the Hornets (15-26) once they got rolling. They led by as many as 18 points behind the solid play of Ball, who scored 27 of his 30 in the second half and added 11 assists and six rebounds. Brandon Miller scored 26 points, while Miles Bridges added 25 points, eight rebounds and four assists as Charlotte shot 54% overall and 20 for 43 (47%) from 3-point range
“You’re going to have stretches like that, but a lot of times when that happens, we’re really disorganized and we have high turnovers and it wasn’t that,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “We ran the offense and either missed shots or didn’t create any advantage.”
Doncic was on the bench as the Lakers collectively clawed back from an 11-point third-quarter deficit. James, Smart and LaRavia each scored during a seven-point run to pull the Lakers within 109-103 with 9:06 left in the fourth.
Doncic returned moments later, but it was somewhat futile. Charlotte didn’t let up and resumed padding its lead. Bridges buried a 3-pointer and Kon Knueppel added another basket sandwiched around a jumper by Doncic, to give the Hornets a 125-108 lead with 4:58 remaining.
Ball made eight of his nine 3-pointers after halftime, gleefully celebrating each one while quieting the crowd in his hometown. The Hornets scored 105 points over the final three quarters.
“They made some ridiculous shots,” Redick said. “You’re going to have certain breakdowns in your defense and in that third quarter, that could have been really deflating for our team and it wasn’t. We kept fighting and played some really good basketball (in the fourth).”
Doncic got started quickly, scoring 19 in the first quarter, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer, to give the Lakers a 39-30 lead. He leads the league in first-quarter scoring.
Doncic started the second quarter on the bench, and the Hornets took advantage of his absence, quickly erasing the lead. They began making 3-pointers and scoring in transition, and by the time Doncic returned at the 6:14 mark, the Lakers were clinging to a one-point lead (44-43).
The Hornets tied the score on an alley-oop pass from Ball to Bridges, and the visitors were just warming up. They led 64-55 at halftime after outscoring the hosts 34-16 in the second quarter.
It was just what Redick had feared before the game.
“They have a lot of shooting – like, a lot of shooting,” Redick said of a Hornets team that routed the league-leading Thunder by 27 in Oklahoma City earlier this month. “And they play with a lot of pace and they’re really good at creating switch confusion and that allows them to get in the blender with their pace and the switch confusion.
“We’ve got to have that same effort to sprint back and get our defense set.”
The Lakers struggled to get their momentum back and watched as Charlotte took a 15-point lead in the third quarter and continued to push the Lakers, who were playing their third game in four nights with another road/home back-to-back set looming this weekend.
HAYES COULD RETURN
Lakers backup center Jaxon Hayes missed his second consecutive game because of a hamstring injury, but Redick is hopeful the 7-footer will be back sometime this weekend.
“He has hamstring tendinopathy,” Redick said before the game. “Hopefully it’s a short-term thing.”
The Lakers have back-to-back games this weekend – at Portland on Saturday and home against Toronto on Sunday.