Lakers let 19-point lead slip away in loss to Hornets

What started as a rout became a fight.

At the end of it, the Southeast Division-leading Charlotte Hornets stormed back from a 19-point deficit to beat the Lakers, 117-113. The loss dropped the Lakers to 11-20.

“At the end of the game, it turned into guys were trying to make the big plays themselves instead of doing it with the team concept and the ball movement,” Lakers Coach Luke Walton said. “It’s natural for young teams. It’s why it’s hard to close games out, especially on the road. It was a good learning experience for us, that when things get tough it’s even more important to count on your teammates and keep trusting the system.”

Jordan Clarkson led the Lakers with 25 points, making a career-high seven three-pointers. He and guard Nick Young have combined for 24 three-pointers in the Lakers’ past two games. For the second game in a row Los Angeles made a season-high 16 three-pointers. Lakers forward Julius Randle had a career-high five blocked shots.

Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 28 points while Nicolas Batum added 23. Both players also had 10 assists.

The Lakers have now lost 10 of their past 11 games, and four of five games during this seven-game road trip. The trip finishes with a back-to-back in Florida against the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic.

Charlotte’s Marco Belinelli tied the score at 113 with less than two minutes remaining, then both teams combined to miss five consecutive shots. When Batum scored to break the deadlock, only 13 seconds remained. The Lakers had a chance, but Young missed a jumper, and that miss sealed the game.

“It should’ve never been that close,” said Young, who said he liked the looks he got in the game’s final minute. “We trickled off. It hurts. It should have never gotten to me having to shoot a game winner.”

Young was absolutely right.

The Lakers made 58 percent of their first-half shots, with 66.7 percent of their three-point attempts falling. Clarkson made his first five three-point attempts and finished the first half with 17 points.

Their 73 first-half points represented the most points the Lakers had scored in any half all season long. Even more pleasing to Walton were their 21 first-half assists. At halftime Los Angeles had a 14-point lead, after leading by as many as 19 during the second quarter.

“The ball was moving, guys were making the extra pass, which is how we want to do things, and … we’ve been better the last two games at doing that,” Walton said. “They turned up the defense in the second half. I think we kind of let that get us out of what we were doing and tightened us up a bit.”

Charlotte had a mission to start the second half.

“Coach wasn’t that mad,” Batum said. “He just told us to wake up.”

The Lakers made their first two shots of the second half, but missed their next six shots. The Hornets, meanwhile, made their first six shots of the half, using a 16-4 run to cut the Lakers’ lead to two.

“The defense wasn’t there,” Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell said. “I don’t remember what happened on offense, it was just the defense.”

The Hornets made 58.3 percent of their shots in the third quarter, and scored 35 points to the Lakers’ 23. Los Angeles’ 96 points after three quarters still tied their highest total of the season, but the trend pointed downward.

“We gotta realize what’s working and keep doing it,” Lakers forward Luol Deng said. “We’ve shown and made progress throughout the year where we’ve shown how good we can be. The challenge for us is just being consistent and playing that way.”