The Los Angeles Lakers had a rough night as they faced the Charlotte Hornets in the first NBA game after the end of the All-Star break. However, the Lakers looked extremely rusty, especially Luka Doncic, as the team fell to a 97-100 loss.
LeBron James put up a great fight with 26 points (10-22 FG), seven rebounds, and 11 assists but the Lakers just couldn’t overcome Luka’s poor showing of 14 points (5-18 FG), 11 rebounds, and eight assists. Rui Hachimura missed two clutch free throws but had a decent showing with 17 points (7-16 FG) and eight rebounds. Austin Reaves was ejected in the third quarter after eight points (3-9 FG).
Fans were not happy about this loss and how Doncic has looked in a Lakers jersey so far.
“Losing to the Jazz and Hornets back-to-back is crazy. Luka gotta lock in,” said one fan who isn’t impressed with what he’s seen so far.
“It took Luka and Kyrie nearly a whole season to figure it out and that’s with Kyrie being one of the most adaptable, dynamic, versatile guys in the league… It might take Luka longer to learn in LA, a lot of this is relatively new,” said one fan trying to explain why the Luka-LeBron duo is off to a slow start.
“You won’t see real Luka until he’s played about 10 games. Give him some time,” said another fan giving Doncic more time to get acclimatized.
“LeBron and Luka are an awesome duo but teams that make star-level acquisitions mid-season pretty much always need an offseason to reshape the roster before they’re serious contenders. LA can get there next year with the right moves but this year’s expectations shouldn’t be at that level,” said another fan saying the Luka-LeBron duo can’t win a title this season.
“LeBron taking games over at 40 years old we will never see another like him,” said one fan giving LeBron his flowers for single-handedly keeping the Lakers competitive.
“People really see Lamelo Ball on a court with Tidjuane Salune and have the audacity to call him a losing player,” said one fan defending LaMelo Ball from career-long criticisms after delivering Charlotte this win.
The Hornets had Miles Bridges as their leading scorer with 29 points (9-22 FG), six rebounds, and five steals. LaMelo Ball put up 27 points (9-19 FG), five rebounds, and six assists while also hitting the game-winner. Mark Williams had 10 points and nine rebounds in his first game back after his failed trade to the Lakers themselves.
This was a rough loss for the Lakers to the 14th seed in the East, especially as they’re coming off a loss to the 14th seed in the West as well. They’re 32-21 on the season, a full game behind the No. 4-seeded Houston Rockets.
Doncic is averaging 14.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists through three games as a Laker, with fans beginning to get concerned about his production. He’s looking uncharacteristically bad and might need a few more games to adjust to the Lakers before he can start performing at an MVP level.
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