Lakers Defense Struggles In Blowout Loss To Hornets

The Los Angeles Lakers picked up one of their best wins of the season against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday and were looking to build off that when they hosted the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday.

The Lakers have typically fared well against lesser opponents, but that wasn’t the case in this one as the Hornets took it to them for a 135-117 win.

L.A. actually got off to a hot start as LeBron James hit a 3-pointer, followed by five straight points by Marcus Smart and six straight by Luka Doncic. After a triple by Jake LaRavia, the Hornets needed an early timeout with the Lakers leading 17-7.

Miles Bridges got hot with three 3s in a row to keep the game from getting out of hand, but Doncic outdid him with 19 points in the first quarter and the Lakers led 39-30.

As has been happening a lot lately, the Lakers got careless with the ball to begin the second quarter. LaMelo Ball was getting his teammates involved, including an alley-oop to Bridges to tie the game at 43.

The Lakers also went ice cold in the second quarter as they had just one field goal in eight minutes. They were also getting frustrated with the officiating, allowing the Hornets to push the pace and build a lead.

It was truly a dreadful second quarter for the Lakers after the hot start as they were outscored 34-16, heading into the halftime locker room trailing 64-55.

Ball came out hot to begin the third quarter as a pair of 3s stretched the Hornets’ lead to 15. The Lakers began chipping away from there as James was doing a good job of getting his teammates open looks.

Doncic also got going again offensively after a quiet second quarter, getting the deficit back to single digits.

Despite a 38-point quarter from the Lakers though, they dug an even bigger hole by giving up 40, heading into the fourth quarter trailing 104-93.

With the Lakers’ inability to get stops, coming back from down double digits was a tough task. They started chipping away once again though, forcing a timeout by Charlotte after a James layup made it 109-103.

That was immediately met with a quick 9-0 run by the Hornets though as the Lakers seemed to be running out a gas. Ball continued to pour it on while the Lakers watching in frustration, eventually pulling the plug and suffering the loss.

What’s next for the Lakers…

The Lakers will get a day off before a tough back-to-back on Saturday on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers and then on Sunday back at home against the Toronto Raptors.