Los Angeles Lakers 104 vs. 121 Brooklyn Nets summary: stats and highlights | NBA

The Brooklyn Nets continued to climb the Eastern Conference standings with a win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night. Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 26 points in the 121-104 victory at the Barclays Center.

Stars sit in Brooklyn

It was a game that was supposed to be headlined by some of the games biggest names, but injuries and fatigue made for a matchup that lacked considerable star power. Kevin Durant is still nursing his sprained knee back to health, and Ben Simmons didn’t dress while Lakers’ stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis sat the second game of a road back-to-back series in Brooklyn.

Royce O’Neale got the Nets going early on with three quick buckets and Brooklyn flew out to a double digit lead. LA struggled from the field in the first 12 minutes of the game, scoring just 16 points and shooting under 35% from the field.

The Nets made things even more difficult by controllng the pace of play thanks to Kyrie Irving’s insistence on running and gunning as Brooklyn kept hold of double digit lead for most of the first half.

LA had the lead for a blink of the eye

Los Angeles looked like a different team coming out of the halftime break as Thomas Bryant came to life and led a 14-0 run to start the third quarter to give the Lakers the lead for the first time since the early seconds of the game.

With no James or Davis the Lakers failed to keep that momentum rolling once they pulled ahead, and quickly fell behind thanks to some brilliant bench play from Brooklyn. Patty Mills and Cam Thomas both finished the night with 21 points and each had their say in a 10-0 run that ran into the first minutes of the fourth quarter.

Brooklyn bench

Irving didn’t run wild in the fourth quarter like he did against the Knicks in the Nets previous game because he didn’t have to. Day’Ron Sharpe, Nick Claxton and Yuta Watanabe were playing some fantastic defense around the rim and they helped carry the Nets to the 17 point win.

Irving ended the night with 26 points, seven rebounds and six assists as the Nets’ bench had 65 of the 121 points scored on Monday night.

The loss keeps the Lakers in 13th place in the West, but they sit just three and a half games back of the LA Clippers in 4th place in a very compact conference. Brooklyn meanwhile are just looking to hang with the top teams in the East as they wait for Kevin Durant to return from injury. Durant said he has the All-Star game circled as a potential return game, but time will tell if he can return before. 

The Lakers continued to hang around until Iriving sentened them with the corner three ball to push the lead to 14 with 2:00 left on the clock.

Irving may have had his streak of 30 point games snapped, but he'll take the win to keep the Nets hanging with the rest of the top teams in the East.

Mills was another one of the Nets that stepped into the spotlight and help lead Brooklyn to the win with his 21 points.

In the absence of KD, the Nets role players have to step up and on Tuesday night, Cam Thomas did that in the form of 21 points on 4-6 shooting from down town.

Yuta Watanabe had some huge minutes off the bench doing it on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. He had 12 points and three came after this block on Gabriel.

The Nets were making life difficult for the Lakers on the offensive end and Nic Claxton shows you why right here, turning defense into offense with the Iriving three ball.

Royce O'Neale got the Nets started on the right foot with a couple early buckets to get himselft going. O'Neale had 14 points on 5-10 shooting.

IT'S ALL OVER!!!

The Nets had control throughout the night, except for maybe a few minutes in the third quarter and Brooklyn takes a game that was short of star power.

Walker hits the pull up and that will be the final bucket of the game.

Mills from the elbow on the fader

Jones running all the time on the shot clock down and hits a step back three ball as the buzzer sounds!

On an out of bounds play with less than 2 seconds on the clock, Irving with a catch and shoot in the corner to seal this game!

Two minutes remain here from Brooklyn!

Westbrook missed two FTs, but Hachimura gets the points on the second chance after an offensive rebounds.

Irving, out of the timeout, gets the off balance runner to go surrounded by 3 defenders.

Brown was fouled by Claxton and he hit one of two FTs.

BKN take a timeout with 3:18 to go in the fourth quarter up 11, looking to hold on to this lead.

Claxton with some good running in tranisition for a big man and he gets his reward with a lay up.

O'Neale was left all alone on the perimeter and he drops the thee ball! He's got 14 on the night.

Westbrook strokes a three ball and he cuts the lead to double digits!

Hachimura using that big body to speed to the rim and get the lay up to go.

We are halfway through the fourth quarter!

Hachimura fouled by Irving and the hits one of two at the line.

Thomas on the dash to the rack and he caresses it home for the finger roll.

Beverley in the corner for three and the Lakers continue to hang around.

Thomas looking down to the block for Watanabe who finishes under the basket and the Lakers want a timeout with 7:17 to go after seeing the deficit slip back to 14.

Friendly roll for Mills whose finger roll hit off the back iron and dropped.

Big bucket from Brown from downtown and the Lakers needed that.

Thomas with the off balance runner in the lane and he gets the bucket to fall and gets the foul! FT is good and the Nets are at 100 for the night!

Sharpe with the slam after battling on the boards! He's got 13 rebounds on the night!

Schroder to the FT line after the foul on Mills and he hits two of two.

Mills with the steal, which leads to a 2 on 1 finished off by Watanabe and the lead is back to 10.

Mills with another three ball and Thomas stretches the lead out with a second straight three pointer!!!! Timeout LA with 10:00 to go in the fourth quarter.

Westbrook to the line after the foul from Thomas and he gets one of two fo go.

Sharpe driving down the lane gets the layup off the Irving assist.

Walker starts the fourth quater off with a layup down the lane.

Sharpe on the difficult tip in and that will be the last bucket of the third quarter, and the Nets are on a 10-0 run going into the fourth quarter.

Thomas with back to back buckets, and his second one was from DT to give the Nets the lead back!

Watanbe was fouled by Toscano-Anderson and he gets one of two FTs to drop.

Mills will a driviing layup down main street.

Walker drills a three out of the timeout off an assist from Brown!!

Irving has seen enough and he takes it off the dribble to the rack and gets the finger roll to drop.

Timeout LA with 2:44 to go in the 3rd quarter.

Gabriel with back to back buckets, and he's got the last 9 points for LA!

Mills in the corner for three to cut the LA lead to 2

Westbrook going coast to coast and dished it off to Gabriel for the lay up in transition.

Gabriel fouled by Mills and he hits one of two FTs at the line.

Gabriel with the jump hook in traffic and gets the tear drop to fall.

Schroder returns the favor on Irving's jump shot and Irving goes to the line and hits two of two to tie things back up.

Schroder to the line after Irving got him on the shot and he hits both FTs at the line.

Curry gets credit for the mid range jumper, but Bryant is the one who went up and goal tended the ball on it's way to the rim. Strange play there. What's more strange is that's the second time he's done it.

Bryant give the Lakers back the lead on the dish from Westbrook and the shot from outside!

Westbrook fighting on the offensive glass and it pays off in the form of two free throws. He hits both from the stripe and the Lakers trail by one.

Bryant imposing his will down low and muscling his way to the bucket.

O'Neale with the floater in the paint and gets fouled from behind! The FT is good and the Nets are up 5.

Hachimura at the line and he hits one of two after the O'Neale foul.

Irving looking to take charge with a three ball, and then a dash to the rack on the next possession to give the Nets the lead back!

THE LAKERS LEAD AFTER SCHORDER'S THREE BALL!!!

Schroder hits the technical FT after Curry turned it over and grabbed the leg of Beverley!!

Great pass from Brown to a slashing Bryant for the slam and the Nets lead has been cut to 2!

BKN need a timeout after coming out of the half after a 10 run from LA.

Brown on the step back jumper and the Lakers are on an 8-0 run!

Hachimura with a catch and release three from the corner!!!

Bryant on the offensive glass, and he hit the put back in traffic and got fouled! FT is good and the lead is inside 10.

WE ARE BACK IN ACTION FROM BROOKLYN!!!

The Lakers have to figure out how to score some easy buckets in the second hafl to get back into this game.

Stat leaders

Irving has 12 points and five rebounds, while Wesbtrook leads the Lakers with 11 points and 5 assists.

Claxton gliding to the bucket and that will be the last bucket of the first half!

The Nets were up all half but let the Lakers get back into the game towards the final parts of the half.

LA is shooting 35.6%,.

Bryant was fouled by Harris and he hit both FTs.

Harris answers with a three ball to put the lead back to 13!

Westbrook to Brown in the corner and he hits the three ball to cut the lead to 10!

We are under 2:00 to go in the first half.

Bryant on the gather on the block, he spun and hit the baby hook and the And 1, but couldn't hit the FT.

Beverley gets fouled on a drive to the bucket and hits two of two FTs with 3:00 to go.

The Nets want a TO with 3:24 to go in the first half.

Hachimura using that big body to get to the rack and finish with the finger roll.

Curry pulls up off the dribble and he hits the long two pt. jumper.

Iriving gets fouled by Bryant and hits two of two FTs with under 6 to go in the half.

Brown on the step back from the baseline and he drops the long two! That was silky smooth!!!

Beverley and Iriving starting to go at it midway through the second quarter.

BKN is in the bonus and Irving goes to the line and hits one of two.

Hachimura at the line after a Morris foul and he hits one of two FTs.

Schroder on the drive and the floater down the lane and they need him to get a bit more involved on the scoring end.

Morris spots up with a foot on the line and hits it over Hachimura

Claxton on the board for the first time tonight with an easy slam.

Westbrook off the ball fake and hits the short jumper.

Bryant to the line after the Morris foul and he hits one of two FTs.

Mills on the ball screen and drops the triple try!

Walker drops the three ball out of the timeout!!!

Wantanbe for three!!!! This time the old fashion way and the Nets lead by 19!!!

LA needs a timeout with 9:20 to go in the second half.

Wantanbe on the drive and the floater, and gets the foul! He hits the FT to complete the three point play.

MIlls got fouled on the three ball by Christie, and he hit all three FTs.

Christie pulls the trigger from the mid range and gets it to go.

Sumner on the drive and he gets the finger roll to go on the Claxton assist.

Westbrook with the dump off and Gabriel was there for the finish.

Walker IV got fouled by Sharpe and he went to the line and hit two of two.

Sharp didn't get the effort to drop, but got the follow up on the first play of the second quarter.

We are at the end of the first quarter and the Nets are leading 29-16!

They went on a 16-0 run thanks to O'Neale and Iriving's hot starts.

Thomas with a catch ans shoot three ball in the corner!!!

Wantanbe drops the three ball in the corner and the Nets are back up by double digits.

Christie drops one of two FTs after a foul on Wantabe, and the LA gets the offensive rebound which led to a Westbrook three point play!

Mills drops the three out of the timeout and the Nets lead by double the Lakers score!

BKN take a timeout with 2:55 to go in the 1st Quarter after a brief run from the Lakers.

Westbrook with back to back three balls, and he's got half of the Lakers points!

Westbrook banks the three ball to stop the run!!! It wasn't pretty but he'll take it.

Irving is fouled by Beverley on the three point shot, and he hits four of four after Beverly gets a technical for disputing the call.

Out of the timeout Curry hits the leaner off the glass and the Nets are on a 12-0 run.

We are at our first timeout here from Brooklyn with 6:47 left in the first quarter and it's Royce O'Neale who has jumped out of the gate hot.

O'Neale drops the mid range jumper and he's got 6 points already.

Irving with back to back buckets, this time he drops the three ball and he's got a quick five points.

Irving is on the board for the first time tonight with a lay up off the O'Neale assist.

O'Neale with a three ball, and he's got the first six points of the Nets night.

Hachimura drops the midrange jumper and the newest Laker has 4 points.

Bryant on the slash to the rack and he gets the slam off the Brown assist.

Hachimura on the follow up with the tip in on the Brown Jr. miss.

O'neale starts the game with a deep ball to get the Nets on the board!

WE ARE UNDERWAY FROM BROOKLYN, NEW YORK!!!

This just in

LeBron James will not be playing tonight against the Nets. The Lakers are in the second game of a back-to-back on the road and the Lakers will be without the King and Anthony Davis.

Durant still out

Kevin Durant sprained his knee earlier this month, and has missed the last 10 games. Last week doctors said they were pleased with how his recovery is coming along, but there is still a ways to go before he can come back to the Nets.  This season he is averaging 29.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.

Refs apologize for Lakers loss

The Lakers were not shy to make their feelings known immediately after the no call in Boston. LeBron was pounding his fists on the floor, Patrick Beverly was showing the refs picture evidence on a courtside camera and Dennis Schroder went to social media to express his dismay. The league finally admitted to their mistake in a statement on their Twitter page.

Standings coming into tonight

Not so long ago the Brooklyn Nets were the top team in the Eastern Conference. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving both looked like they were both on their way out of the City That Never Sleeps, but they both stayed and led the Nets to the top of the table to start the season. An injury to KD, and a recent slump has seen them drop to 4th in the East, but Kyrie is capable of steering the ship for now, and it would’t be surprising to be to see them creep back up the board once KD comes back.

The Lakers had a dreadful start to their season and things have only been getting worse. LA currently sit at 23-27 which puts them in 13th place in the West, currently sitting outside of the Play-In Tournament and above just the Spurs and the Rockets in the the conference.

Nets need a streak

Kyrie Irving continues to show time and time again that he is more than capable of keeping this Nets team afloat without Kevin Durant. He is slowly but surely winning those fans who turned on him over the course of the last two seasons back. As long as he continues to dazzle on the court, Brooklyners will be backing Kyrie.

Lakers back in the Big Apple

LeBron knows Kyrie Irving all too well after their era in Cleveland. They won a title against the Golden State Warriors together, but tonight they will go head to head from the Barclays Center. The King will have something to prove tonight, not just to the Kyrie and the Nets, but to the NBA who basically admitted to blowing the game for the Lakers in Boston.

Nets nip Knicks

Brooklyn reasserted their dominance over their crosstown rival for the 9th straight time on Sunday when they defeated the New York Knicks 122-115. Kyrie Irving saved the best for last, scoring 21 points in the final 10 minutes of the game to hold off the Knicks in the last quarter. The Nets didn’t have Kevin Durant, so in the absence of their former MVP, the starting five all scored double digits, including Nick Claxton who had a double double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Irving finished the game with 32 points and 9 assists as the Nets sit 11 games over .500.

Lakers loss surrounded in controversy

It was the non-whistle heard around the world on Saturday in Boston. LeBron James was apparently fouled by Jayson Tatum driving to the basket with the time winding down in the fourth quarter of tied game at TD Garden. The refs swallowed the whistle, LeBron and the Lakers went nuts and and the game went to overtime where the Celtics would down the Lakers in the first game of their East Coast road trip.

We are live from Barclays

Hello everyone and welcome to Brooklyn where the the Nets are looking to turn things around after a rough patch over the last month. They had lost six of their last eight before taking down the New York Knicks last game in the battle of the Big Apple. The Lakers are slumping down the standings in the Western Conference and will be looking to get a big win on this East Coast swing tonight from the Barclays Center.

Lakers vs. Nets

We have a two week break from the NFL, but no worries there is plenty of NBA action to get us through the break in-between the Championship Round and the Super Bowl. Tonight the focus shifts to Brooklyn as the Nets get ready to face off against the Los Angeles Lakers, and AS English will be with you all night long providing live stats, scores, highlights and analysis of tonight’s contest from the Barclays Center.