Lakers blown out by Nets, sink below .500 again – Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES — One step forward, another step back.

That’s been the Lakers’ reality for most of the 2023-24 season. Because whenever it seems like they’ve made significant progress and are on the cusp of consistently winning in ways they haven’t outside of In-Season Tournament games, they have a performance – or a string of them – that shows they still have a lot of work to do.

Their 130-112 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena was just the latest example.

The off-ball movement in their sets that was a difference-maker in Wednesday’s victory over the Dallas Mavericks? Not nearly as present against the Nets, which made life harder offensively when their shotmaking cooled off.

Their defense? Not nearly as intense after the first quarter, which they won 37-28.

The Lakers (21-22) got solid-to-good performances from most of their key players, save for a poor shooting night for Austin Reaves (4 for 12 overall, 0 for 6 from 3-point range).

Anthony Davis finished with 26 points (9-of-13 shooting), 12 rebounds and seven assists in 35 minutes.

D’Angelo Russell continued to roll offensively, scoring 20 points to go with seven assists for his third 20-point game in the last four games.

LeBron James finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists despite shooting 9 of 22 from the field. Jarred Vanderbilt scored a season-high 12 points and didn’t miss a shot (5 for 5).

But once the Nets (17-24), who were led by Cam Thomas’ 33 points off the bench, found their rhythm, the Lakers didn’t do enough defensively to make them uncomfortable.

Brooklyn trailed by six early in the third quarter before it went on a 23-8 run over a six-minute span to grab an 87-78 advantage. The Nets took the lead with a 12-4 run, including a 3-pointer by Mikal Bridges to give them their first lead at 76-74 with 8:09 remaining in the quarter.

And the solutions didn’t come from the offensive side of the floor either, with the Lakers only mustering 44 second-half points after taking a 68-62 lead going into halftime.

The Lakers are 7-13 since winning the In-Season Tournament, the third-worst mark in the Western Conference over that stretch.

After back-to-back games when their opponents shot poorly from behind the arc – some due to luck and some due to improved perimeter defense – the Nets knocked down 40.4% (19 of 47) of their 3-point attempts.