Lakers can’t keep up in loss to LaMelo Ball, Hornets

LOS ANGELES — In their previous game, Lakers guard Luka Doncic took a rare step back from scoring and trusted his teammates to secure a victory. That belief resulted in all five Lakers starters scoring in double figures in a 25-point win.

“The other night, he really just made a concerted effort to trust his teammates,” Coach JJ Redick said.

On Thursday night, the confidence was still there but Doncic did what he always does. He took the ball and scored 39 points on 15-of-26 shooting (6 for 11 from 3-point range).

But as good as Doncic was, the league’s leading scorer couldn’t drag the Lakers past the Charlotte Hornets, who got 30 points and nine 3-pointers from LaMelo Ball and left Crypto.com Arena with a 135-117 win.

The Lakers (24-15) lost for the fourth time in five games and the eighth time in their past 13, despite 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists from LeBron James.

Jake LaRavia added another 18 points, Deandre Ayton had 12 and Marcus Smart scored 10 as the starting five all finished in double figures again despite another loss to a sub-.500 team.

The Lakers couldn’t slow the energetic Hornets (15-26) once they got rolling. They led by as many as 18 points behind the solid play of Ball, who scored 27 of his 30 in the second half and finished with 11 assists and six rebounds. Brandon Miller scored 26 points, while Miles Bridges added 25 points, eight rebounds and four assists as Charlotte shot 54% overall and 20 for 43 (47%) from 3-point range.

Doncic was on the bench as the Lakers collectively clawed back from an 11-point third-quarter deficit. James, Smart and LaRavia each scored during a seven-point run to pull the Lakers to within 109-103 with 9:06 left in the fourth.

Doncic returned moments later, but it was somewhat futile. Charlotte didn’t let up and continued to pad its lead. Bridges buried a 3-pointer and Kon Knueppel added another basket sandwiched around a jumper by Doncic, to give the Hornets a 125-108 lead with 4:58 remaining.

Ball made eight of his nine 3-pointers after halftime, the former Chino Hills High star gleefully celebrating each one while quieting the home crowd in his hometown. The Hornets scored 105 points in the final three quarters.

Doncic got started quickly, scoring 19 in the first quarter, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer, to give the Lakers a 39-30 lead. He leads the league in first-quarter scoring.

Doncic started the second quarter on the bench, and the Hornets took advantage of his absence, quickly erasing the lead. They began making 3-pointers and scoring in transition, and by the time Doncic returned at the 6:14 mark, the Lakers were clinging to a one-point lead (44-43).

The Hornets tied the score on an alley-oop pass from Ball to Bridges with 6:32 left in the half. Charlotte was just warming up and led 64-55 at halftime after outscoring the hosts 34-16 in the second quarter.

It was just what Redick had feared before the game.

“They have a lot of shooting – like, a lot of shooting,” Redick said of a Hornets team that routed the league-leading Thunder by 27 in Oklahoma City earlier this month. “And they play with a lot of pace and they’re really good at creating switch confusion and that allows them to get in the blender with their pace and the switch confusion.

“We’ve got to have that same effort to sprint back and get our defense set.”

The Lakers struggled to get their momentum back and watched as Charlotte took a 15-point lead in the third quarter and continued to push the Lakers, who were playing their third game in four nights with another road-home back-to-back set looming this weekend.

HAYES COULD RETURN

Lakers reserve center Jaxon Hayes missed his second consecutive game because of a hamstring injury, but Redick was hopeful the 7-footer will be back sometime this weekend.

“He has hamstring tendinopathy,” Redick said before the game. “Hopefully it’s a short-term thing.”

The Lakers have back-to-back games this weekend — at the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday and back home against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

More to come on this story.