A severely short-handed Lakers side saw their two stars struggle mightily against the lowly Nets, leading to a disappointing 111-108 loss.
The purple and gold were without LeBron James, Dorian Finney-Smith, Jaxson Hayes and Rui Hachimura, leaving them without much in the way of size. As a result, Brooklyn finished with 16 offensive rebounds and 16 second-chance points.
Making matters worse, the Lakers turned the ball over 16 times, which the Nets turned into 19 points.
Luka Dončić had a slow offensive game, ending with 22 points on 8-25 shooting to go with 11 rebounds and 12 assists. Austin Reaves was woeful, finishing with 17 points on 3-14 shooting. He did have eight rebounds and eight assists but had a team-worst plus-minus of -10.
Gabe Vincent started the night perfectly, going 5-5 from the field in the first quarter. He ended the game with a season-high 24 points. Jordan Goodwin had another excellent showing off the bench with a season-high 17 points on 5-6 shooting from range and eight rebounds. Dalton Knecht had 19 points with three 3-pointers himself.
With so many injuries, the Lakers trotted out a starting lineup featuring Luka, Reaves, Knecht, Vincent and Alex Len.
The game began with Gabe shouldering the offensive load with eight quick points. A shorthanded Lakers would have to tackle this game with a next-man-up mentality and Gabe answered the call early. After the Nets moved ahead, LA scored seven straight to take the lead back.
Gabe continued his impressive offensive takeover with five more points. Jordan got his first minutes of play and drained a 3-pointer. The Lakers kept their lead growing as they continued to play hard.
Luka dribbled behind his back to split two defenders and scored on a layup. As the quarter was winding down, Austin found Dalton on the other end of the court and threw a perfect pass to him for a dunk.
The purple and gold ended the first on an 11-2 run and led by 12.
The shorthanded Lakers take a 28-16 lead out of the 1st Q, ending the quarter on an 11-2 run, with Gabe Vincent (13 points on 5 of 5 FG’s) and Luka Doncic (6 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals) leading the way.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) March 11, 2025
Brooklyn started the second quarter on a big scoring run to cut the deficit to single digits. Jordan continued being a lethal shooter from behind the arc for Los Angeles, draining two more 3-pointers. Cam Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer for the Nets.
Between Gabe and Jordan, they were keeping LA’s three-point percentage high at 64% in the first half.
LA kept mostly struggling with their offense throughout the quarter. They were also having a rough time defending the paint, allowing Brooklyn to grab 33 rebounds and score 16 points.
The Nets extended their scoring run to 14-5, cutting the deficit to two. Brooklyn took the lead with less than a minute left in the half and led by one at the half.
Halftime: Nets 48, Lakers 47
LA was outscored 32-19 in the second. Jordan Goodwin (14 points) and Gabe Vincent (13 points) are their leading scorers. Luka has 9/9/6. AR has 2/3/4. Brooklyn is dominating LA at the FT line (8-16 vs. 2-2). Both teams are shooting under 40%.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) March 11, 2025
Los Angeles started the second half even worse than the second quarter. The Nets were defending them well, leading to messy play. The only positive for the Lakers was Gabe knocking down another 3-pointer. Out of a timeout, Austin scored his first field goal of the game.
Luka found Trey Jemison III on a lob for a much-needed dunk to stop some of the bleeding for LA. Dalton drained a 3-pointer and, suddenly, the Lakers were cooking with a 7-0 scoring to make it a one-point deficit.
The Lakers struggled to defend Johnson, who was making a home behind the arc. Well into the quarter, Austin was still the only Laker to shoot free throws while the Nets as a team had 18 already.
After Luka finally got a foul call in his favor, he started heating up and knocked down a 3-pointer. There was a sequence of lead-taking threes for each team as part of 13 lead changes and six ties in this quarter.
At the end of the frame, LA was down two.
The Nets are getting a bunch of 3’s from their bench: Beekman, Martin, Sharpe, Clowney and Wilson have made 8 of Brooklyn’s 14 triples, matching LA’s 14.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) March 11, 2025
Jordan began the final frame going what he does best, draining a 3-pointer. Former Laker D’Angelo Russell knocked down a 3-pointer, but he hadn’t taken a lot of shots throughout the game.
Brooklyn had gone up by four, but a deep 3-pointer by Dalton cut that deficit back down. LA was not boxing out well, leading to the Nets gaining many opportunities to score.
The Nets started cooking even more offensively, going on a big 11-3 run to give themselves a seven-point lead. LA was forced to call timeout to slow the momentum. Dalton converted on a layup to finally give the Lakers some more points out of the break.
Brooklyn doubled Luka every time he had the ball, making him fight around multiple defenders to score. At the midway point, the Lakers were down eight. Luka scored out of a timeout and the Nets turned the ball over.
Jarred Vanderbilt chipped away at the deficit with an emphatic dunk after grabbing the ball off a miss from Dalton. With 2:12 left, the Lakers were down six before Gabe knocked down another 3-pointer.
D’Lo answered with a three of his own. Gabe was fouled and converted on both free throws.
Austin banked in an incredible 3-pointer to keep LA alive, but LA gave up an offensive rebound and the Nets made them pay. Luka drained a wild 3-pointer with 10.6 seconds left to make it a two-point game.
The Lakers would have to play the foul game to keep giving themselves some life. The defense broke down on the in-bound, ending with a three-point play from Noah Clowney.
Cam Johnson missed a pair of free throws with three seconds left, but the Lakers did not have a timeout and Luka’s full-court heave to tie the game fell well short.
Key Takeaways:
It’s going to be a rough stretch for this short-handed Lakers team. They are missing players crucial to their success. They need to have a constant next man up mentality.
They’ll have to improve their ball handling to limit their turnovers. They have to limit the second-chance opportunities for the opposing teams, as well.
The Lakers’ next matchup is against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday at 4:30 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
