Lakers dropped by Hornets young core in fourth loss in five games

LOS ANGELES, Calif — The Lakers’ troubles against youth and quickness strike again and deliver gut-wrenching blows in front of a sellout home crowd.

The Charlotte Hornets’ young core sliced and diced the Lakers’ defense and hopes on Thursday at Crypto.com Arena, dropping Los Angeles 135-117 behind 81 points combined from LaMelo Ball, Bradon Miller and Miles Bridges.

“I feel like Charlotte has a lot of young, great players. I know we saw them win some big games when they’re all on a roll. LaMelo [Ball], Kon [Knueppel], Brandon [Miller], [Miles] Bridges. So, they have a good, young group. It’s hard to play against them. Obviously, their record’s not the best, but they have some good ones,” Luka Dončić said, who had 39 points.

The Lakers got out to a great start, connecting on five of their first six shots and making their first four attempts from 3. Luka Dončić would score 19 points in the opening quarter, which pushed the Lakers to a commanding 13-point lead.

It looked as though the Lakers were on the verge of building off their win against the Hawks. Then their lead, which ended up being their biggest of the game, slowly eroded.

“I want to win every game, so it doesn’t matter if you come from a loss or a win. So I just want to win every game because obviously we had a great start and then we just kind of fell off,” Dončić said.

The Hornets went on to outscore the Lakers 74-54 in the middle quarters. L.A.’s success in attacking the paint in the first quarter was contained with the Hornets switching to a zone defense to stop it.

It resulted in the Lakers scoring just 18 points in the paint in the first half and assisting on nine of their 20 field goals, while the Hornets assisted on 19 of their 25 shots.

The Lakers couldn’t find a crack in the Hornets’ defense and turn the valve off against their scoring despite LeBron James pouring in 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists on the night. Each time the Lakers charged up a run, the Hornets answered behind a bucket or a ridiculous shot by Ball.

In the Lakers’ last chance, trying to regain control they had for a stint at the start, Ball connected on a contested corner 3—one of his four in the fourth. Which gave the Hornets a 15-point lead and caused Lakers fans to head toward the exits with five minutes left.

“They made some ridiculous shots,” JJ Redick said. “They had 150 against Utah and blew out OKC at [Oklahoma City]. I think everybody, our coaching staff and the guys in the locker room, we all knew that. They got our full respect and attention pregame and [I] thought we fought. Just another team that has a hot shooting night.”

Ball would put the final dagger on the night with 1:30 left, drilling a 3 from the wing and pushing their lead to 16, chirping toward his Hornets bench. It was a déjà vu moment when he and this Charlotte team beat L.A. by three last season after his late-game heroics.

The Chino Hills native finished with a team-high 30 points and 11 assists.

The Hornets poured in 20 total 3s on the night and shot 54% from the field, dropping the Lakers’ record to 24-15 and 10-8 at home in their fourth loss in five games.

The Lakers will play their next two on the weekend, with Portland on Saturday and then back home against the Raptors on Sunday.

Lakers dropped by Hornets young core in fourth loss in five games

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