Nets lose to Lakers 116-99 despite Josh Minott's 18 points
The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday despite forward Josh Minott coming off the bench to drop 18 points and six rebounds.
The Brooklyn Nets (17-57) had one game left on their west coast road trip before they could head back home to play for the majority of the rest of the season. Brooklyn had arguably its toughest matchup of the road trip as they visited the Los Angeles Lakers (48-26) on Friday and while the Nets played well for the first three quarters, they couldn't come away from Los Angeles with the win. The Nets lost to the Lakers 116-99 as Los Angeles pulled away in the fourth quarter thanks to the efforts of Austin Reaves and his 15 points in the quarter.
Forward Josh Minott led the way for the Nets with his 18 points and six rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench while center Nic Claxton had one of his better games of the season with 16 points and seven rebounds. The main reason that the Nets were going to have a tough time pulling off the upset on Friday is due to what superstar Luka Doncic is capable of doing when he gets going. As NBA fans have seen over the past few seasons and beyond, Doncic dropped 41 points and eight rebounds as he was able to get whatever shot he wanted against Brooklyn's team defense.
The Nets did not roll over for the Lakers, however, as they forced Los Angeles into committing 15 turnovers, leading to 19 points for Brooklyn. The Nets just couldn't find a way to make shots in the fourth quarter as they shot just 6-of-19 from the field and 1-of-8 from behind the three-point line in the period, just as the Lakers started to get more production from Reaves and LeBron James. Similar to how Brooklyn has been operating since the team has been officially eliminated from postseason contention, players like Claxton, Williams, and Noah Clowney did not play in the fourth quarter.
Be that as it may, the Nets can return home for a six-game homestand that will begin on Sunday against the Sacramento Kings so they will be able to look forward to going back to a familiar setting for some time. This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets lose to Lakers 116-99 despite Josh Minott's 18 points