LOS ANGELES — If the Lakers looked like a team ready for the All-Star break in their Feb. 12 road loss to the Utah Jazz, then Wednesday’s 100-97 loss to the Charlotte Hornets at Crypto.com Arena showed what can happen when a team is away from the court for an extended period.
Because from the onset, the Lakers and Hornets played with a sloppiness of teams that looked like they hadn’t played in a week.
The teams combined for 37 turnovers (18 for the Lakers) and shot a combined 38.6% from the field (70 for 181).
But it was the Eastern Conference’s 14th-place Hornets (14-39) who made the plays when it mattered the most, outscoring the hosts 63-49 in the second half to hand the Lakers (32-21) their second consecutive loss. The Lakers, already facing one of the toughest remaining schedules in the NBA, bookended their All-Star break with defeats against two of the league’s worst teams.
LeBron James led the Lakers with 26 points (16 in the fourth quarter), 11 assists, seven rebounds and a pair of blocked shots, but he missed a pair of late 3-point attempts that would have tied the game and sent it into overtime.
Rui Hachimura added 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists, but missed a pair of late free throws. Dorian Finney-Smith (12 points, five rebounds, three assists) also scored in double figures.
Luka Doncic, playing in his third game with the Lakers, finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, but struggled with his shot (5 for 18 from the field, 1 for 9 from 3-point range) and taking care of the ball (six turnovers – five in the first quarter).
The Hornets outscored the Lakers 43-32 after Austin Reaves was assessed a pair of technical fouls and ejected from the game after a brief exchange of words with referee Rodney Mott late in the third quarter. The Lakers led 65-57 at the time of Reaves’ ejection, but Charlotte went on an 18-1 run immediately after Reaves was ejected, putting the Hornets ahead 75-66 early in the fourth after the Lakers led by as much as 13 in the third. The Lakers missed 10 straight shots during a 6:39 span.
Doncic made a putback that put the Lakers back ahead 94-93 with 1:03 left, but the Hornets regained the lead at 96-94 on a corner 3-pointer from Nick Smith Jr. with 48 seconds remaining.
Hachimura drew a shooting foul on the Lakers’ ensuing possession but missed both free throws.
LaMelo Ball made a contested finger-roll layup over Jarred Vanderbilt to put the Hornets ahead 98-94 with 14.2 seconds left.
James made a 3-pointer out of a broken play to bring the Lakers within one 98-97 with 6.8 seconds left.
The Lakers intentionally fouled Ball on the Hornets’ ensuing possession, with Ball making both free throws to put the Hornets up 100-97 with 6.3 seconds left before James missed a pair of 3-point attempts as Charlotte won for just the second time in 11 games.
Miles Bridges scored 29 points and Ball finished with 27 to pace Charlotte. Mark Williams had 10 points and nine rebounds in his first game since the Lakers acquired the center in a trade and then rescinded the deal.
More to come on this story.