NEW YORK — His three-quarters court heave was launched so high that it grazed the bottom of the scoreboard and — by the time it had bounced harmlessly short — Luka Dončić had already tumbled again onto the floor after crashing into yet another Brooklyn Nets player.
It was a portrait of the most frustrating night of Dončić’s 12-game tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Los Angeles fell Monday night to a Nets team that entered the night on a seven-game losing streak, raising questions about the team’s ability to overcome a spate of injuries to three starters and one key reserve. Most notable is a left groin strain that could sideline LeBron James for up to two weeks. Worse yet for the Lakers: the Nets may have deployed a blueprint for the rest of Los Angeles’ opponents to copy as James nurses the injury.
Brooklyn blitzed Dončić with double-teams. They often bumped him before he even crossed halfcourt, preventing him from getting to his spots with ease. When he did slash into the paint, they body checked him and swarmed with help defense, altering the timing and trajectory of his shots.
The Nets also occasionally sent two defenders to harass guard Austin Reaves, used active hands on deflections and outworked Los Angeles on the glass, doubling up the Lakers on offensive rebounds, 16-8.
After the game, an exasperated JJ Reddick laced into his team’s effort and decision making, saying the Lakers “just wanted to take shortcuts” and that they “ball-watched” the entire game.
“You want to be a good team, you want to win in the NBA, you need to do the hard stuff,” Reddick said. “We couldn’t even pass to each other. We couldn’t enter our offense, running ball screens at literally half court. Yeah, that’s going to end up in a turnover. I don’t know what we were doing.”
Granted, the Lakers were particularly banged up. Center Jaxson Hayes and forward Rui Hachimura, a pair of starters out with knee injuries, joined James and key contributor Dorian Finney-Smith (ankle) in street clothes.
Reddick dismissed that as an excuse, saying “it was a very low-level communication game.”
Dončić, for his part, took ownership. He finished with a 22-point, 12-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, but he shot just 8-of-26 (30.8%) from the floor, including 3-of-10 from 3. His five turnovers, many of which came out of double teams, were nearly as many as Brooklyn (seven) had overall.
“What JJ said about communication today, that was important,” Dončić said after the game. “That’s my fault and we should have done better at that.”
Throughout the game, after he drew contact on his attacks, Dončić continuously appealed to officials and eventually drew his fourth technical foul since joining the Lakers.
The Lakers shot only two free throws in the first half. Dončić, who averages 7.1 free throw attempts per game — ninth-most in the NBA — made his first trip to the line with 3:36 left to play in the third quarter.
The Nets shot 30 free throws Monday against Los Angeles’ 19.
“Yeah, it was just a lot,” Dončić said. “It wasn’t fair, but we just got to keep playing the game. But it was a lot, I ain’t going to lie.”
This all leaves Los Angeles in a potentially precarious spot. With the loss — and a Denver Nuggets victory Monday over the Thunder — the Lakers (40-23) slipped out of the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference. But the schedule is only intensifying.
According to tankathon.com, Los Angeles has the fourth-toughest remaining schedule in the NBA, with two games left against the Oklahoma City Thunder (53-12), Nuggets (42-23), Milwaukee Bucks (36-27) and Houston Rockets (40-25).
James, who has remained with the team during its current road trip, sat in his familiar spot at the end of the bench and did not appear to favor his injured groin. Reddick said before tipoff that he has not gotten any clarity on the severity of the injury and that James is “still being evaluated to some degree.”
But, starting with a showdown against the Bucks on Thursday, Los Angeles will play six games over a span of eight days; two of those will be against Milwaukee and two will be against the Nuggets. James could potentially miss all of those.
If Los Angeles is to reclaim the second seed, or, at least, prevent a deeper slide, the answer lies in communication and execution.
“There’s a million different things that we should’ve done better to win that game,” Reaves said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t do any of them.”