It’s same old deal for Lakers in loss to Trail Blazers
Lakers veterans Kobe Bryant and Metta World Peace watch the action from the bench in the waning moments of a 107-93 loss to the Trail Blazers.
The difference between young and old presented itself again awkwardly at Staples Center. The result was almost predictable by now — Lakers fans filing out quietly with time left on the clock.
In one corner was fresh-faced point guard Damian Lillard. He had 30 points and 13 assists Sunday for the Portland Trail Blazers.
In the other corner was Kobe Bryant. He had 18 points on woeful six-for-22 shooting.
To no one’s great surprise, the Lakers lost, 107-93, surrendering 18 fastbreak points and scoring a meager two themselves.
It gets worse. They now face the Golden State Warriors on the road Tuesday.
The Warriors are 15-0 and one victory from the NBA’s best start ever. The Lakers are 2-11 and somehow making last season reappear.
Even the normally ebullient Nick Young couldn’t put on a happy face.
“Man, it’s hard not to think about the past when you’re losing like this,” Young said after scoring two points on one-for-six shooting. “We were in the same predicament last year in the start, right?”
Actually, the Lakers had one more victory through 13 games last season.
Bryant continues to hover near 33% accuracy and still can’t make three-point shots with consistency, missing all five he took Sunday.
Coach Byron Scott, ever loyal to Bryant, tried to deflect attention away from Bryant’s misfiring.
“I think all of us, not just Kobe, everybody on the team, we’ve got to do a better job of trusting each other and moving the ball,” he said. “It just gets stuck and every shot we take is a challenged shot. It’s under duress.
“Until our guys start to really trust each other, it’s going to be like that.”
They’ll see a trusting team Tuesday. Scott chuckled for a few seconds when asked about playing the Warriors.
“That’s my thought right now,” he eventually said. “They are the best team I’ve seen in the league and it’s not close.”
D’Angelo Russell continued to take more of the ball-handling duties from Jordan Clarkson and produced 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists. He wasn’t in a very chatty mood afterward, answering reporters’ queries only briefly at best.
With the Lakers playing so poorly, it wasn’t surprising that Scott reiterated a request for patience.
“D-Russ, it might be some time towards the end of next season where he says, ‘Man, I’m starting to get it.’ And the same thing with Julius [Randle],” Scott said. “I know we want these guys to develop extremely fast. Nobody more than me. It takes time and I think everybody has to understand that and I don’t think a lot of people do, unfortunately.”
Randle took 13 rebounds against Portland but made only five of 15 shots and had 13 points.
Scott tried to shake up the lineup early in the second quarter, putting Brandon Bass at center and Bryant at power forward. Young, Lou Williams and Clarkson were the other three Lakers on the court. It was a temporary experiment.
Young seemingly tried to fire up the Lakers afterward. Or maybe, accidentally, the Warriors.
A reporter asked what it would be like to “wreck” Golden State’s perfect season so far.
“I think we should go in with the mind-set of wrecking it,” Young said. “I think it would mean a lot for our confidence to go inside Golden State — that game mean a lot to them — and put them out of their misery.”
Two words: Good luck.
mike.bresnahan@latimes.com
Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan
Times correspondent Eric Pincus contributed to this report.
All things Lakers, all the time.
Get all the Lakers news you need in Dan Woike's weekly newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
