Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers’ fourth-quarter comeback was cut short as they lost 111-108 Monday night to the Brooklyn Nets in Barclays Center.

The story of the game was Brooklyn’s offensive rebounding, as the Nets doubled the Lakers 16-8 in that category. LA had was thin on frontcourt depth due to injuries to LeBron James (left groin strain), Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle soreness), Jaxson Hayes (right knee contusion), and Rui Hachimura (left patellar tendinopathy).

This led to small lineups, often with forward Jarred Vanderbilt as the team’s tallest player on the court, which contributed to the rebound discrepancy.

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images Rebounding certainly wasn’t the only problem for the Lakers against Brooklyn.

Another major contributor was the poor shooting of Doncic (8-for-26) and Austin Reaves (3-for-14). Head coach JJ Redick also highlight poor communication after the game (via Jovan Buha of The Athletic), something Doncic took responsibility for after the game.

“That’s my fault,” said Doncic, assigning the blame to himself. Luka Doncic when asked about JJ Redick calling out the Lakers’ lack of communication on offense tonight, said: “That’s my fault” — Dave McMenamin (@mcten) March 11, 2025 The counting stats for Doncic and Reaves were solid despite the poor shooting.

Doncic supplied his second triple-double as a Laker with 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists, while Reaves came close to a triple-double of his own with 17 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds.

With a second straight loss for Los Angeles and a win for the Denver Nuggets against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Lakers now have fallen to the third seed in the Western Conference.

As durability continues to be a problem for LA, it stands tied with the Memphis Grizzlies in the standings, as well as only one game ahead of the Houston Rockets for the fifth seed.

The Lakers have two more games of their current road trip before returning back to Crypto.com Arena for a five-game home stand.