The Luka Doncic era in Los Angeles has not gotten off to an ideal start. The Lakers came out flat following the All-Star break, losing to the 14-39 Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night by a score of 100-97. Despite holding the Hornets to 36-percent shooting on the evening, Doncic and LeBron James could not lead their team to victory. It’s the second-straight loss for the Lakers who suffered defeat in their last game before the break to the lowly Utah Jazz.
LA raced to an 11-point lead by halftime, holding the Hornets to just 37 points in the first two quarters. Doncic, however, continued his early Laker struggles. He missed his first six three-point attempts and went into halftime with more turnovers (5) than points (4). The third quarter is where it went awry for the Lakers.
The Lakers held a 13-point lead with 4 minutes remaining in the third quarter. Over the next five minutes of game time, the Hornets notched a 22-1 run. Amidst the avalanche, Laker guard Austin Reaves was assessed the first ejection of his career after earning two technical fouls from arguing a call. Doncic was not on the floor for the majority of the run, but he didn’t make much of an impact when he returned to the floor.
After getting called for his fifth foul, the Hornets began attacking Doncic repeatedly on the defensive end. It culminated with Hornets star LaMelo Ball driving past the newest Laker for the game-winning layup. With a chance to tie late, HC JJ Redick used Doncic as an inbounds passer and ran a play for James to attempt a game-tying three-pointer. James missed twice on the final play, sealing the Lakers’ 21st loss of the season.
Doncic finished the game with 14 points on 5-of-18 shooting, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, and 6 turnovers. On the positive side, the Lakers were a plus-13 when Doncic was on the floor — a sizable improvement from the minus-19 he recorded against the Jazz last Wednesday.
It was obvious that this group was going to have to take some time to gel. Both Doncic and James are used to having the ball, especially at the end of games. Reaves had also grown accustomed to running the offense this season and struggled in this one before being disqualified.
The frontcourt remains a mystery as the Lakers suffered defeat to almost-Laker Mark Williams. In Dallas, the Mavericks were able to make up for Doncic’s mediocre defense with one of the league’s best center rotations. The Lakers looked better when their two centers played on Wednesday. In the 28 minutes that Jaxson Hayes and Alex Len were on the floor, the Lakers outscored the Hornets by 20 points. LA was outscored by 23 points in the 20 minutes they didn’t play a traditional center. It will be interesting to see how Redick handles that moving forward.
Through three games, Doncic is averaging 14.7 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 5.3 APG, and 4.0 TOPG with the Lakers. His shooting percentages have been dreadful (35.6 FG%, 20.8 3PT%, 58.3 FT%). He has failed to score 20 points in any of his three games as a Laker. He hadn’t gone two straight under 20 points in four years. The last time he was held under 20 points for three straight games was a week-long stretch in January of 2019.
Doncic will eventually play better. The Lakers will make more shots (15-of-51 from three on Wednesday). Reaves probably won’t get ejected again for the rest of the season. However, this Laker team has a lot of figuring out to do. And they don’t look anywhere near a championship contender just yet.
