The Los Angeles Lakers were once again defeated by the Brooklyn Nets, as the Nets swept both games in the China series.
After two games in China, the Los Angeles Lakers will be coming home with two losses. On Saturday, it was quite apparent that the Lakers really weren’t trying to win this game.
With a lot of G-League guys playing big minutes for the Lakers, they fell to the Nets by a score of 91-77.
After one-quarter of action, LeBron James sat out for the remainder of the game. James not playing a ton in the preseason has been something that Frank Vogel has talked about, and James just played one full quarter for the fans in China on Saturday morning.
What was concerning for the Lakers was what happened to Anthony Davis. Davis left the game with a thumb injury, and did not return. It has been called a sprained thumb for Davis, and that is certainly something that will have to be monitored as the Lakers come back to the states.
The Lakers say Anthony Davis has a sprained right thumb and will not return.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 12, 2019
In the game, the Lakers struggled offensively. Even when James and Davis were in the game, the Lakers did not shoot the ball well. As expected, the shooting and scoring output on offense did not improve without their two star players.
One of the things that was noticeable for the Lakers to start the game was their starting five. The Lakers went with a small-ball lineup that featured Davis at center. There has been a lot of talk about how much Davis would be playing at center. Considering this was a preseason matchup, we might see Davis at the five more than we thought this season.
While it was a poor offensive showing overall for the Lakers, one player that did well on the offensive end was Avery Bradley. Bradley ended up being the leading scorer out of all of the starters, as he finished with 14 points on 6-for-13 shooting.
As a team, the shooting number for the Lakers were not pretty. Los Angeles shot under 40 percent from the field and under 20 percent from three-point range. Obviously, those numbers won’t get it done
On Monday, the Lakers will be back in the states for a second preseason game against the Golden State Warriors.