Still waiting for Luka to be Luka, Lakers stumble out of All-Star break with loss to Hornets
The Los Angeles Lakers opened the second half of the NBA season with a loss, and they’re still waiting for a signature Luka Dončić performance.
After leading by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, the Lakers went without a field goal for six minutes while the Hornets took over at Crypto.com Arena. A LeBron James-led comeback then erased a nine-point lead, but the Hornets pulled out the 100-97 win in the end.
The loss pushed the Lakers record to 32-21, and 1-2 with Dončić in the lineup.
After scoring 14 points in his Lakers debut and 16 in his second game, Dončić once again struggled with efficiency coming out of the All-Star break. He finished with 14 points on 5-of-18 shooting (1 of 9 from 3-point range) with 11 rebounds, eight assists and six turnovers. He was in foul trouble for much of the game.
Down the stretch, it was LaMelo Ball running things for the Hornets, sometimes at Dončić’s expense.
James had 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting with 11 assists, seven rebounds, two blocks and two turnovers. More than half of his points came in the fourth quarter, such as when he did this:
A game against the Hornets carried some intrigue because of the trade deadline move that went up in smoke last week. Hornets center Mark Williams was supposed to become Dončić’s primary lob threat in the paint, but the Lakers killed the trade after his physical, leaving them with a big man duo of Jaxson Hayes and the recently signed Alex Len.
Williams had a moment after the game with Dalton Knecht, the rookie who would have headed to Charlotte had the trade gone through.
Williams posted 10 points and nine rebounds, while Hayes and Len combined for eight points and five rebounds.
The Lakers are still figuring things out
As head coach JJ Redick announced before the game, the Lakers used a 10-man rotation for the game, a reflection of everyone getting healthy and Los Angeles still trying to figure out its ideal rotation for a team built around the ball-dominant James and Dončić. Len, Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt and Dalton Knecht all saw at least 10 minutes each off the bench.
That rotation did become a nine-man unit midway through the game when Austin Reaves was ejected after picking up a double technical foul for continuing to argue a call.
It should be noted that while the game was a thriller at the end, neither team exactly looked its best. Even when the Lakers were building their lead, they were committing an unsustainable amount of turnovers. And even while the Hornets got it together, they ended up shooting only 36.3% from the field. Slight advantages in rebounding, turnovers and 3-pointers made up for that shortage.
The bigger question for the Lakers is when exactly Dončić will get things going. It is definitely acceptable for a player like Dončić, adjusting to a complete upheaval of his career and returning from an injury, to have a slow start, but he is currently shooting 16 of 45 as a Laker and has yet to crack 20 points. Some of his turnovers Wednesday were plain sloppy.
Fortunately, Los Angeles still has plenty of runway to get things going for the playoffs. The Lakers’ next game will be Thursday against the Portland Trail Blazers in the second half of a back-to-back.
