The Los Angeles Lakers marked the one-year anniversary of acquiring Luka Doncic by fading in the fourth quarter on Sunday.
The Lakers conclude their eight-game road trip Tuesday night and hope to do enough to earn a win when they face the struggling Brooklyn Nets in New York.
Los Angeles is 4-3 on the trip with wins over the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards while losing to the Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks.
Doncic has six 30-point games on the trip, including a 46-point showing at Chicago on Jan. 26. On Sunday, he finished with 30 points, a season-high-tying 15 rebounds and eight assists but the Lakers took a 112-100 loss to the Knicks.
After shooting 61.2% in Friday’s 31-point win at Washington, the Lakers shot 45.2% and struggled in the second half. Los Angeles was outscored 60-44 after halftime and held to 18 points in the fourth.
“We’re in a good spot,” Doncic said. “Obviously, got some work to do. I think (Sunday) we obviously missed a lot of good looks, but I think we have a great group.”
“I like this group, but we got to continue to get better,” LeBron James added. “And that’s good. We should want to get better. We want to continue to get better and better. It’s a tough league.”
James finished with 22 points Sunday and is 17-of-31 from the floor in the past two games following a 3-of-10 showing in Cleveland last week.
The Lakers played what they hope is their final game without Austin Reaves due to a left calf strain. Reaves has missed 19 games with the injury and warmed up Sunday before the Lakers opted to sit him.
Reaves is averaging a career-high 26.6 points this season and the Lakers are 14-11 without him. He’s questionable for Tuesday’s game.
The Nets are 3-16 in their past 19 games after winning seven of 10. They return home after completing a five-game road trip with a 130-77 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
It was Brooklyn’s second-most-lopsided loss of the season, behind a 54-point loss to the Knicks on Jan. 21.
Unlike the loss in New York, Michael Porter Jr. did not play in Detroit due to personal reasons.
Without their top scorer, the Nets were held to their second-fewest points all season, trailed by as many as 55 and shot a dreadful 32.9%. It was Brooklyn’s second-lowest field-goal percentage only ahead of the 29.1% showing at New York.
The Nets also shot 22.6% from 3-point range (7 of 31), marking the 13th time they failed to hit at least 30% from behind the arc.
Brooklyn also committed a season-worst 25 turnovers, resulting in 39 points for the Pistons, who held a 70-30 edge on points in the paint.
Without Porter, the Nets started three rookies but the trio of Danny Wolf, Egor Demin and Nolan Traore were a combined 4-of-20 from the floor. No Net scored more than 12 points.
“It’s not just that you don’t play consistently hard. It’s that you quit. And we cannot allow that,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “So, it starts with me; gotta create habits. Obviously, this one hurts. Got to help them be better.”
The good news for Brooklyn is that Porter is off the injury report and appears poised to return after a two-game absence.
The Nets are hoping their follow-up game after a lopsided loss is similar to some of the previous instances.
On Jan. 23, Brooklyn took a 130-126 double-overtime loss to the Boston Celtics after getting drilled by the Knicks. Last Tuesday, the Nets took a four-point loss to the Phoenix Suns after a 126-89 loss to the Clippers.
