LeBron injured, Lakers stumble

The Lakers’ winning streak came to a screeching halt at the Garden. The team from Los Angeles arrived at basketball’s sacred arena — a stage that has witnessed countless historic moments — riding eight straight victories and seemingly unstoppable. But the Celtics, living up to their status as defending champions, shattered the purple and gold’s momentum. The Lakers are fighting to secure second place in the Western Conference, but with so little time left, the battle is fierce and the margin for error small.

What happened to the Lakers? LeBron happened

The Nuggets, Rockets, and Grizzlies are also locked in this fight, while the Warriors have shown up to the party a little late. Yet, everything is still up for grabs in a Western Conference final stretch that promises to be wild — unusually dramatic for a part of the season where most things are typically settled. The only team that can breathe easy is Oklahoma City Thunder, who continue to dominate with an iron grip. The rest? Fighting tooth and nail to lock in the best possible playoff position.

In the thick of that battle are the Lakers, whose season was turned upside down by the blockbuster Luka Doncic trade — a move that shook the NBA to its core. Nothing like it had ever been done before. And while the Lakers were already on an upward trajectory, the arrival of the Slovenian superstar sent them soaring, racking up win after win and creating moments for the history books. The buzz was off the charts — and still is.

Mavericks struggling post-Doncic

Meanwhile, the Mavericks have collapsed into total misery, paying the price for a decision that nobody, to this day, understands — and probably never will. The league’s biggest asset (Doncic) joining its biggest market (the Lakers) sparked a love story that’s still being written. Los Angeles, a city already bathed in lights, has never shone brighter. And now, a fanbase that used to whisper about its team’s chances is shouting loud and clear: “We can win it all.”

The championship dream is real, tangible — within reach. But winning in the NBA is never easy, something the Lakers understand better than anyone.

Still, those dreams were slightly clouded after the loss to the Celtics. Not so much because of the defeat itself — the Lakers had just endured a grueling overtime win against the Knicks, while Boston was well-rested, having benched most of its starters the game before — but because LeBron James went down with an injury. On the surface, it doesn’t seem serious. But this isn’t the first time his groin has betrayed him, and though “King James” still sips from the fountain of youth at 40, he is, after all, human.

And so, doubts linger about the partnership between the two stars — those nagging physical issues that could haunt them come playoff time. For Doncic, injuries have already kept him from reaching the 65-game minimum needed for individual awards. And LeBron, playing at an MVP level (yes, seriously), could be sidelined for one to two weeks— though with his superhuman physique, nothing is ever certain.

Sure, playoff seeding is important — but getting there healthy is everything. And if both LeBron and Doncic are firing when the postseason arrives, there may be no stopping the Lakers.

Against that backdrop, the Lakers arrived in Brooklyn to face a struggling Nets team — on a day when ticket prices dropped 59% the moment it was announced LeBron wouldn’t play. And the Lakers stumbled badly (111-108), picking up a second straight loss despite Doncic’s monster triple-double: 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists in over 41 minutes on the court.

They dominated early, flying out to a 28-16 first quarter lead and building a 15-point cushion, but fizzled out dangerously as Brooklyn mounted an unexpected comeback. “We just wanted to take shortcuts,” said JJ Redick afterward, as the Lakers’ hopes took another hit — compounded by wins for the Nuggets, Grizzlies, and Rockets.

Despite racking up 31 assists and shooting nearly 50% from beyond the arc (19-for-40), Los Angeles couldn’t close it out. Doncic’s desperate last shot didn’t fall, and that was that.

Brooklyn, playing for pride more than playoff position, got huge contributions from Noah Clowney (19 points), Cameron Johnson (18), Keon Johnson (18), Tyrese Martin (14), and Nic Claxton (12) — a collective effort masterminded by coach Jordi Fernández, who took home a massive win against one of the hottest teams in the league.

The Lakers, who had been soaring, now find themselves temporarily grounded. Just another twist in the never-predictable story that is the NBA.

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Brooklyn Nets

Stats

2 Cameron Johnson
8 Ziaire Williams
33 Nicolas Claxton
45 Keon Johnson
1 D'Angelo Russell
4 Reece Beekman
21 Noah Clowney
10 Tyson Etienne
27 Maxwell Lewis
13 Tyrese Martin
20 Day'Ron Sharpe
22 Jalen Wilson
12 Tosan Evbuomwan
0 Dariq Whitehead

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
2 Cameron Johnson	32	18	7	2	5	5	1	3	0	4/8	4/11	2/3	0	2	0
8 Ziaire Williams	31	7	9	2	7	2	0	2	2	2/2	1/2	1/8	0	3	0
33 Nicolas Claxton	31	12	6	3	3	1	1	0	1	0/0	6/7	0/0	0	2	0
45 Keon Johnson	25	18	3	0	3	3	1	1	0	3/6	3/6	3/4	0	1	0
1 D'Angelo Russell	28	8	3	1	2	7	1	2	1	2/4	0/3	2/6	0	2	0
4 Reece Beekman	8	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/1	1/2	0	2	0
21 Noah Clowney	22	19	5	2	3	0	0	1	1	6/7	2/3	3/8	0	1	0
10 Tyson Etienne	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
27 Maxwell Lewis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
13 Tyrese Martin	27	14	3	1	2	3	1	1	1	0/0	1/6	4/8	0	0	0
20 Day'Ron Sharpe	16	8	7	4	3	1	1	0	0	1/2	2/6	1/1	0	1	0
22 Jalen Wilson	15	4	3	1	2	0	1	0	0	1/1	0/0	1/5	0	2	0
12 Tosan Evbuomwan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
0 Dariq Whitehead	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0

Los Angeles Lakers

Stats

4 Dalton Knecht
7 Gabe Vincent
27 Alex Len
77 Luka Dončić
15 Austin Reaves
30 Jordan Goodwin
55 Trey Jemison III
10 Christian Koloko
20 Shake Milton
88 Markieff Morris
5 Cam Reddish
2 Jarred Vanderbilt
9 Bronny James Jr.

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
4 Dalton Knecht	41	19	4	0	4	1	1	0	0	0/2	5/9	3/9	0	2	0
7 Gabe Vincent	33	24	0	0	0	3	1	0	0	2/2	2/3	6/9	0	4	0
27 Alex Len	13	0	2	2	0	2	1	0	1	0/0	0/1	0/0	0	3	0
77 Luka Dončić	41	22	12	1	11	12	5	2	0	3/4	5/16	3/10	0	1	0
15 Austin Reaves	36	17	8	2	6	10	3	0	1	10/11	2/9	1/5	0	3	0
30 Jordan Goodwin	24	17	8	1	7	0	2	1	0	0/0	1/2	5/6	0	3	0
55 Trey Jemison III	17	2	3	1	2	0	1	0	2	0/0	1/3	0/0	0	4	0
10 Christian Koloko	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
20 Shake Milton	5	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
88 Markieff Morris	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
5 Cam Reddish	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
2 Jarred Vanderbilt	26	7	6	1	5	2	1	1	0	0/0	2/2	1/1	0	0	0
9 Bronny James Jr.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0