Noah Crowney scored 19 points and the Brooklyn Nets lost LeBron James to a tense left gro caliber by beating Los Angeles 111-108 in the Lakers’ first game on Monday night.
Luka Doncic scored 22 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists in LA, but he only shot eight times for 26. Austin Reeves was 14 and 3 years old.
Cam Johnson and Keon Johnson each added 18 points to the net, bringing their seven-game losing streak. Tyreese Martin finished with 14 points.
Gabe Vincent scored 24 points for the Lakers. The Lakers had eight straight wins before losing James in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 111-101 loss in Boston. Dalton Knecht scored 19 points, while Reaves finished with 17 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.
James looked at him from the edge of the Lakers bench. Coach JJ Reddick said before the game the Lakers were still deciding how long James would be on.
Take home
Lakers: Jaxson Hayes (cons disease in the right knee), Dorian Finney Smith (pain in the left ankle) and Rui Hachimura (left patellar tendon disorder) also appeared, and the Lakers did not use the Donz, Vincent, Knecht and Alexren lineup.
Net: After giving up a 12-0 run to finish the game with a 105-102 loss at Charlotte on Saturday, Brooklyn ran enough to do the stretch, primarily a crowd of pro-lakers, even as visitors tried to support the rally.
Important moments
Doncic hit a 35 footer to cut it to 108-106 with 10.6 seconds left, but after calling Timeout, Nets designed a great play to make Clowney free, dunking while fouling for a 5-point advantage.
Key Statistics
Donsic has his second triple double of the season, along with the Lakers.
next
The net will visit NBA leader Cleveland on Tuesday. The Lakers will rest until they visit Milwaukee on Thursday.
