Hollywood Bust: Nets swept out in Los Angeles

(LOS ANGELES) — The middle portion of the Brooklyn Nets’ franchise-high nine-game road trip consisted of a few days spent in Los Angeles, and back-t0-back games against the Clippers and Lakers.  In case you missed it, the Nets lost both of them.

On Monday night, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan proved to be too much for the Nets to handle as the Clippers won easily, 105-95.  The Nets were competitive for much of the game.  They even briefly took the lead during the third quarter.  In the fourth, Lob City took over and the Nets modest two-game winning streak was no more.

The following night, the Nets faced a Laker team without Kobe Bryant and suffered a 107-101 defeat to the second-worst team in the NBA.  Rookie D’Angelo Russell poured in a career-high 39 points, including eight 3-pointers to help his team snap an eight-game losing streak.

Brook Lopez lead the Nets with 23 points and seven rebounds before fouling out with 2:43 remaining.  Thaddeus Young added 19 points and 15 rebounds for Brooklyn, giving him 25 double-doubles on the season.  That is tied with Lopez for the team lead.

The Nets (17-44) dropped to 2-3 on their circus road trip and have lost 13 of their past 16 games against the Lakers.

Brooklyn’s road trip continues on Friday night against the Denver Nuggets.

Notes: Wayne Ellington left Monday’s game against the Clippers to be examined for a potential head injury.  Ellington, who has been playing well as of late, collided with Jordan and had to be taken back to the locker room.  He did not return, but came back to start against the Lakers.  He finished with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting against his former team.

Bryant missed the game with a sore right shoulder, meaning he will never face the Nets again.  Bryant did play against them earlier in the season in the Lakers’ victory at Barclays Center.  Before the game, rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson presented Bryant with parting gifts from the Nets organization.  Bryant of course won the second of his five NBA championships against the Nets back in 2002, when the Lakers swept the then-New Jersey Nets in the finals.