Undermanned Lakers undone by Nets in Brooklyn
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Down a whole host of players, the Lakers struggled on Monday, falling to the Nets in their second game of the road trip.
A severely short-handed Lakers side saw their two stars struggle mightily against the lowly Nets, leading to a disappointing 111-108 loss.
The purple and gold were without LeBron James, Dorian Finney-Smith, Jaxson Hayes and Rui Hachimura, leaving them without much in the way of size. As a result, Brooklyn finished with 16 offensive rebounds and 16 second-chance points.
Making matters worse, the Lakers turned the ball over 16 times, which the Nets turned into 19 points.
Luka Dončić had a slow offensive game, ending with 22 points on 8-25 shooting to go with 11 rebounds and 12 assists. Austin Reaves was woeful, finishing with 17 points on 3-14 shooting. He did have eight rebounds and eight assists but had a team-worst plus-minus of -10.
Gabe Vincent started the night perfectly, going 5-5 from the field in the first quarter. He ended the game with a season-high 24 points. Jordan Goodwin had another excellent showing off the bench with a season-high 17 points on 5-6 shooting from range and eight rebounds. Dalton Knecht had 19 points with three 3-pointers himself.
With so many injuries, the Lakers trotted out a starting lineup featuring Luka, Reaves, Knecht, Vincent and Alex Len.
The game began with Gabe shouldering the offensive load with eight quick points. A shorthanded Lakers would have to tackle this game with a next-man-up mentality and Gabe answered the call early. After the Nets moved ahead, LA scored seven straight to take the lead back.
Gabe continued his impressive offensive takeover with five more points. Jordan got his first minutes of play and drained a 3-pointer. The Lakers kept their lead growing as they continued to play hard.
Luka dribbled behind his back to split two defenders and scored on a layup. As the quarter was winding down, Austin found Dalton on the other end of the court and threw a perfect pass to him for a dunk.
The purple and gold ended the first on an 11-2 run and led by 12.
Brooklyn started the second quarter on a big scoring run to cut the deficit to single digits. Jordan continued being a lethal shooter from behind the arc for Los Angeles, draining two more 3-pointers. Cam Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer for the Nets.
Between Gabe and Jordan, they were keeping LA’s three-point percentage high at 64% in the first half.
LA kept mostly struggling with their offense throughout the quarter. They were also having a rough time defending the paint, allowing Brooklyn to grab 33 rebounds and score 16 points.
The Nets extended their scoring run to 14-5, cutting the deficit to two. Brooklyn took the lead with less than a minute left in the half and led by one at the half.
Los Angeles started the second half even worse than the second quarter. The Nets were defending them well, leading to messy play. The only positive for the Lakers was Gabe knocking down another 3-pointer. Out of a timeout, Austin scored his first field goal of the game.
Luka found Trey Jemison III on a lob for a much-needed dunk to stop some of the bleeding for LA. Dalton drained a 3-pointer and, suddenly, the Lakers were cooking with a 7-0 scoring to make it a one-point deficit.
The Lakers struggled to defend Johnson, who was making a home behind the arc. Well into the quarter, Austin was still the only Laker to shoot free throws while the Nets as a team had 18 already.
After Luka finally got a foul call in his favor, he started heating up and knocked down a 3-pointer. There was a sequence of lead-taking threes for each team as part of 13 lead changes and six ties in this quarter.
At the end of the frame, LA was down two.
Jordan began the final frame going what he does best, draining a 3-pointer. Former Laker D’Angelo Russell knocked down a 3-pointer, but he hadn’t taken a lot of shots throughout the game.
Brooklyn had gone up by four, but a deep 3-pointer by Dalton cut that deficit back down. LA was not boxing out well, leading to the Nets gaining many opportunities to score.
The Nets started cooking even more offensively, going on a big 11-3 run to give themselves a seven-point lead. LA was forced to call timeout to slow the momentum. Dalton converted on a layup to finally give the Lakers some more points out of the break.
Brooklyn doubled Luka every time he had the ball, making him fight around multiple defenders to score. At the midway point, the Lakers were down eight. Luka scored out of a timeout and the Nets turned the ball over.
Jarred Vanderbilt chipped away at the deficit with an emphatic dunk after grabbing the ball off a miss from Dalton. With 2:12 left, the Lakers were down six before Gabe knocked down another 3-pointer.
D’Lo answered with a three of his own. Gabe was fouled and converted on both free throws.
Austin banked in an incredible 3-pointer to keep LA alive, but LA gave up an offensive rebound and the Nets made them pay. Luka drained a wild 3-pointer with 10.6 seconds left to make it a two-point game.
The Lakers would have to play the foul game to keep giving themselves some life. The defense broke down on the in-bound, ending with a three-point play from Noah Clowney.
Cam Johnson missed a pair of free throws with three seconds left, but the Lakers did not have a timeout and Luka’s full-court heave to tie the game fell well short.
It’s going to be a rough stretch for this short-handed Lakers team. They are missing players crucial to their success. They need to have a constant next man up mentality.
They’ll have to improve their ball handling to limit their turnovers. They have to limit the second-chance opportunities for the opposing teams, as well.
The Lakers’ next matchup is against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday at 4:30 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
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Balanced scoring helps power Nets over Lebron James-less Lakers
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By CBS New York Team
March 10, 2025 / 10:28 PM EDT / CBS/AP
Noah Clowney scored 19 points and the Brooklyn Nets beat visiting Los Angeles 111-108 on Monday night in the Lakers’ first game since losing LeBron James to a strained left groin.
Luka Doncic had 22 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists for LA, but he shot only 8 for 26. Austin Reaves was 3 for 14 as the guards struggled with James and other key frontcourt players sidelined.
Cam Johnson and Keon Johnson each added 18 points for the Nets, who snapped a seven-game losing streak. Tyrese Martin finished with 14 points.
Gabe Vincent scored 24 points for the Lakers, who had won eight straight before losing James in the fourth quarter of their 111-101 loss in Boston on Saturday. Dalton Knecht had 19 points and Reaves finished with 17 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.
James watched from the end of the Lakers’ bench. Coach JJ Redick said before the game the Lakers were still determining how long James would be out.
Lakers: With Jaxson Hayes (right knee contusion) and forwards Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle soreness) and Rui Hachimura (left patellar tendinopathy) also out, the Lakers used a lineup of Doncic, Reaves, Vincent, Knecht and Alex Len that had never started together.
Nets: After giving up a 12-0 run to end the game in a 105-102 loss in Charlotte on Saturday, Brooklyn executed well enough down the stretch to hang on even as a largely pro-Lakers crowd tried to help the visitors rally.
Doncic hit a 35-footer to cut it to 108-106 with 10.6 seconds remaining, but after calling timeout, the Nets designed a nice play to get Clowney free and he dunked while getting fouled for a five-point advantage.
Doncic had his fifth triple-double of the season and second with the Lakers.
The Nets visit NBA-leading Cleveland on Tuesday. The Lakers are off until visiting Milwaukee on Thursday.
The CBS New York Team is a group of experienced journalists who bring you New York web coverage on cbsnews.com.
© 2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Lakers vs. Nets odds, line, prediction, start time: 2025 NBA picks, March 10 best bets from proven model
The Los Angeles Lakers will look to get along without star small forward LeBron James (groin), who may miss up to two weeks, when they battle the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night. Los Angeles is coming off a 111-101 loss to Boston on Saturday, while Brooklyn dropped a 105-102 decision to Charlotte that same night. The Lakers (40-22), the third seed in the Western Conference, have won eight of nine. The Nets (21-42), who have lost seven in a row, are 9-21 on their home court. Luka Doncic (back) has been upgraded from questionable to probable for Los Angeles. Cam Thomas (hamstring) is among three players listed out for Brooklyn.
Tipoff from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. The teams split their head-to-head series in each of the last five seasons, and Los Angeles posted a 102-101 win in their only meeting this season on Jan. 17. The Lakers are 5.5-point favorites in the latest Lakers vs. Nets odds from SportsLine consensus, while the over/under for total points scored is 216.5. Before making any Nets vs. Lakers picks, make sure to check out the NBA predictions and betting advice from the SportsLine Projection Model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in betting profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past six-plus seasons. The model enters Week 20 of the 2024-25 NBA season on a sizzling 147-107 roll on all top-rated NBA picks dating back to last season, returning nearly $4,000. It’s also an outstanding 18-10 (64%) on top-rated spread picks this season. Anyone following at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen huge returns.
Now, the model has simulated Lakers vs. Nets 10,000 times and just revealed its coveted NBA picks and betting predictions. You can head to SportsLine now to see the model’s picks. Here are several NBA odds and NBA betting lines for Nets vs. Lakers:
With James out, the Lakers will need Doncic to help carry the team on Monday, especially with Dorian Finney-Smith (ankle), Rui Hachimura (knee) and Jaxson Hayes (knee) also out for L.A. In 11 games with the Lakers, all starts, Doncic is averaging 24.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 1.8 steals in 33.5 minutes. In 33 total games on the year, he is averaging 27 points, 8.2 boards and 7.8 assists. He registered a double-double with 32 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds and four steals in a 113-109 overtime win over the New York Knicks on Thursday.
Also helping power the Los Angeles attack is shooting guard Austin Reaves. The third-year veteran is coming off a 16-point, three-rebound and two-assist effort in Saturday’s loss at Boston. He scored 23 points and added six rebounds, five assists and two steals in a 111-102 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Feb. 27. In 55 games, all starts, he is averaging 18.8 points, 5.8 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 34.3 minutes. See which team to back at SportsLine.
Small forward Cameron Johnson (knee) missed Saturday’s game, but he is off the injury report for this one. He’s averaging 19 points per game and is shooting 47.5% from the field. D’Angelo Russell will look to pick up some of the scoring slack with Thomas and others ruled out.
The former Laker, acquired in a trade last month, poured in 28 points with seven assists and six rebounds in the loss to the Hornets on Saturday. In 20 games with the Nets, including 17 starts, Russell is averaging 14.1 points, 5.7 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 24.4 minutes. For the year, he has played in 49 games, including 27 starts, and is averaging 13.1 points, 5.1 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 25.5 minutes. See which team to back at SportsLine.
SportsLine’s model has simulated Nets vs. Lakers and is leaning Under the total, projecting 211 combined points. The model also says one side of the spread cashes in nearly 70% of simulations. You can head to SportsLine to see the model’s NBA picks.
So who wins Lakers vs. Nets on Monday, and which side of the spread hits in almost 70% of simulations? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Lakers vs. Nets spread to back, all from the model that has returned well over $10,000 on top-rated NBA picks, and find out.
Here are some of the sportsbooks to bet on NBA games today, along with the various NBA sportsbook promos they currently offer.
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