Star-less Lakers done in by poor shooting in loss to Nets

NEW YORK — On one of the last few meaningful possessions of Monday night’s game, Kyrie Irving found a way. The Brooklyn guard drove to his left against the hounding of Patrick Beverley, finishing with a contested floater in the lane.

Russell Westbrook sprinted down the floor on the other end, hunting for a quick layup to bite into the Nets’ lead, but missed.

The Lakers have won without their top two stars before, but most of the time, it’s just a lot more difficult.

In a game defined by who was not on the court as much as who was on it, the Nets got a rugged 121-104 win over the Lakers despite an impressive third-quarter rally by the visitors. It came down to, unsurprisingly, superior shooting: Brooklyn has a lot of proven dangerous shooters, and the Lakers have very few.

A Nets team without Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons still had Irving, who led the way at Barclays Center with 26 points. Without LeBron James or Anthony Davis, the Lakers got an even offensive effort with seven players in double figures, but only shot 39.3% from the floor.

“We still have to be upbeat,” said Thomas Bryant, who finished with a team-high 18 points. “It’s a long, grueling season. And things can change in the blink of an eye. That’s what I keep telling my guys. And that’s what they keep telling us too. We have to stay positive throughout this time. It’s tough. But nobody’s gonna feel sorry for us.

Westbrook had 17 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in another near-triple double, but was just 5 for 15 from the floor – another rough shooting night in a string of now five games in which he’s struggled to score from the floor. It was, unfortunately, a common issue for the Lakers guards: Patrick Beverley was 1 for 8, and Dennis Schröder was 2 for 15.

The best effort from any position group came from the big men: Bryant fueled a 14-0 rally at the start of the third quarter that thrust the Lakers into the fight after they had trailed by double digits for the entire second quarter. Wenyen Gabriel rattled off nine straight points, too, during the third, which the Lakers won 36-27.

Coach Darvin Ham said the Lakers’ running habits were better in that frame, and a more aggressive approach running the ball up the floor helped directly lead to more points. Bryant added that the Lakers were more keen to attack the switching Brooklyn defense and find the gaps in their scheme. From a corner three by Schröder midway through the third that gave them their first lead of the half, the Lakers looked ready to compete with the Nets and even got ahead by as much as seven points.

But they started and finished poorly. The Nets outscored them a combined 65-38 in the first and fourth quarters. Brooklyn made 16 3-pointers, which helped stymie the Lakers’ threat early in the fourth quarter and allowed the hosts to pull away.

Ham wondered if disappointment from their previous loss had bled into the game’s slow start, when the Lakers trailed by as much as 19 points in the first half. But Troy Brown Jr., who finished with a career-best 17 rebounds, gave a simpler explanation: The team struggled to find itself without the grounding of James or Davis.

“In the first half, we were a little stagnant trying to figure out where we were going to get our shots and what plays we’re going to run,” he said. “But ultimately, at the end of the day, we play each game day by day. And whatever that game needs, that’s how we adjust.”

Added to an overtime loss to Boston, the defeat gave the Lakers an 0-2 start to their five-game road trip. But the Lakers are hoping that James and Davis will rejoin the group Tuesday against the Knicks, and Austin Reaves could return pending an evaluation Thursday in Indiana.

“You’re going to have your disappointments and things you wish you could do over again, but the biggest thing is you can’t get down, you can’t get discouraged,” Ham said. “You got to keep fighting the good fight and I feel good about the guys in that locker room, especially now we’re getting guys back healthy, I feel good about our chances.”

While James took a night off from chasing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record, Westbrook made some history of his own. With a second-quarter dime to Thomas Bryant, he passed Gary Payton (8,966) for 10th place in career assists.

The postgame locker room mood was dampened by the loss, but Ham said the team took a moment to acknowledge the feat. The three-time season assist leader and all-time leader in triple-doubles is averaging 7.5 helpers this season, mostly as a reserve.

Westbrook could soon overtake Isiah Thomas who has 9,061 in ninth place. The 34-year-old seemed humbled to move into that exclusive neighborhood.

“If somebody had told me 15 years ago, 20 years ago that you’d be top 10 in assists, I’d look at them like they was crazy,” he said. “In the NBA, never dreamt of being in this position, nor getting to the point to where I’m next to some of the greats. I’m just truly grateful and thankful for an opportunity to keep playing at the highest level and I don’t take any of that for granted.”