{"id":542914,"date":"2026-01-17T15:11:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T15:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/542914\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T15:11:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T15:11:01","slug":"lakers-defensive-issues-once-again-prove-costly-in-loss-to-hornets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/542914\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers’ defensive issues once again prove costly in loss to Hornets"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a back-and-forth high-scoring affair Thursday night, the Lakers<\/a> led by 13 points in the second quarter before the Charlotte Hornets rallied to build a 15-point lead in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

In the end, the Hornets kept the momentum they stole from the Lakers, rolling to a 135-117 win<\/a> at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 defense couldn\u2019t slow down LaMelo Ball in the second half and it was unable to stop the Hornets from making 20 three-pointers.<\/p>\n

As a result, the Lakers (24-15) lost for the fourth time in five games.<\/p>\n

Read more: Lakers’ JJ Redick defends LeBron James amid ‘unfortunate’ criticism<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn’t matter who it is. Doesn\u2019t matter the team, doesn’t matter the player,” Marcus Smart<\/a> said. \u201cIf they were shooting 20% [before], they\u2019re shooting 50%. And it’s unfortunate, but that’s part of the game. It’s tough. We got to figure it out. We got to play with a little bit more urgency on that end, especially, and kind of impose our will.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not easy. Especially when you play for the Lakers, you always are the hunted\u2014 no matter what.”<\/p>\n

The Hornets (15-26) shot 53% from the field and 54% from three-point range in the second half. Ball had 27 of his 30 points in the second half. After the Lakers closed to within 10 points with 2 minutes and 30 seconds left in the fourth, Ball’s back-to-back three-pointers essentially closed out the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had some crazy shots, but that’s what he do,” said Luka Doncic<\/a>, who finished with 39 points. \u201cHe was shooting a lot of threes off the dribble … so he got really hot. So it’s kind of hard to stop.”<\/p>\n

\"Charlotte<\/p>\n

Charlotte forward Brandon Miller looks to pass in front of Lakers star LeBron James in the first quarter Thursday. (Ronaldo Bolanos \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Even with all of the Lakers\u2019 starters scoring in double figures, it wasn’t enough. LeBron James<\/a>, who didn\u2019t speak to reporters after the game, had 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Jake LaRavia<\/a> had 18 points, Deandre Ayton<\/a> scored 12 and Smart had 10.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The start of the game was so different for the Lakers.<\/p>\n

Doncic blew a kiss to the crowd and threw his hands in the air after drilling a first-quarter three. Doncic smiled at the Lakers\u2019 bench after shooting another three-pointer a short time later.<\/p>\n

During those moments, Doncic epitomized the kind of joy Lakers coach JJ Redick<\/a> wants to see his team exhibit.<\/p>\n

The rest of the Lakers followed Doncic\u2019s lead as the team built a 48-55 lead in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Doncic led the Lakers in the first quarter, scoring 19 points on seven-for-12 shooting, which included a trio of threes. The Lakers had 14 three-pointers in the game, but it wasn\u2019t enough to stop a more consistent Charlotte attack.<\/p>\n

The Lakers were outscored 34-16 in the second quarter, 40-38 in the third and 31-24 in the fourth.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all knew that they got our full respect and attention pregame and I thought we fought,\u201d Redick said. \u201cJust another team that has a hot shooting night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Etc.<\/p>\n

Redick said backup center Jaxson Hayes had an MRI scan that revealed hamstring tendinopathy in his left leg. Hayes, who is averaging 6.3 points per game, has missed two games because of the injury. “It’s hopefully a short-term thing and hopefully he’ll be back at some point this weekend,\u201d Redick said. The Lakers play at Portland on Saturday before facing the Toronto Raptors at home on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Read more: Luka Doncic plays and scores 27 points as the Lakers rout the Hawks<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter on all things Lakers.<\/a><\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a back-and-forth high-scoring affair Thursday night, the Lakers led by 13 points in the second quarter before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3777],"tags":[7,970,684,473,3878,1586,685,4077,32,1661,300,966,185,368,326,6,687,74613,476],"class_list":{"0":"post-542914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-charlotte-hornets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brandon-miller","10":"tag-charlotte","11":"tag-charlotte-hornets","12":"tag-charlottehornets","13":"tag-deandre-ayton","14":"tag-hornets","15":"tag-jake-laravia","16":"tag-jaxson-hayes","17":"tag-jj-redick","18":"tag-lakers","19":"tag-lamelo-ball","20":"tag-lebron-james","21":"tag-luka-doncic","22":"tag-marcus-smart","23":"tag-nba","24":"tag-portland","25":"tag-ronaldo-bolanos","26":"tag-toronto-raptors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}