BROOKLYN, NY—The Los Angeles Lakers lost their eighth straight game, falling to the Brooklyn Nets 107-97 on Wednesday, December 14.
Lou Williams led the Lakers with 16 points off the bench while Nick young added 14 points and four rebounds. Julius Randle had six points and 10 rebounds; D’Angelo Russell scored 11 points while grabbing three rebounds and two assists.
Lakers head coach Luke Walton reportedly challenged the team to improve their play after losing 9 of their last 10 games.
“He raised his voice. He got his point across today,” Lakers guard Nick Young said of Walton’s locker room message. “Just mentally being soft and calling us out. We got to step up to the plate.”
The Lakers recent slide occurred after the team faced several early season injuries; Nick Young, D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jose Calderon all missed multiple games with injuries.
Russell added that the team’s recent struggles are, “not what these fans are used to. It’s not what Coach is used to. Our main focus is turning around the organization, and there’s losses here and there, but eight and 10 and 12 in a row, that’s not us.”
Bojan Bogdanovic scored a game-high 23 points for the Nets, who snapped a two-game losing streak with the win. Sean Kilpatrick had 22 points, four rebounds and five assists; Brook Lopez added 20 points, seven rebounds and two assists.
Brooklyn is now 7-17 on the season, and will travel to Orlando to play the Magic on Friday, December 16.
After beginning the season 10-10, the Lakers have fallen to 10-18 overall. Los Angeles will face the Philadelphia 76ers in their next game on Friday, December 16.
