Lakers at Nets
The frustration seems to be getting to first-year Los Angeles Lakers coach Luke Walton, who is one loss away from doubling the total he saw as interim coach and assistant with the Golden State Warriors last season. The Lakers have a great chance to snap their seven-game slide when they continue a seven-game road trip by visiting the lowly Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.
Walton was ejected less than eight minutes into Monday's 116-92 loss to the Sacramento Kings for screaming at officials over a non-call that he felt should have been a foul. "I just felt like I needed to stand up for my guys," Walton told reporters. "What happened on the floor wasn't right, and my only concern is our guys in the locker room and our team. I feel like something's not right, I'm going to stand up for my guys." Nets coach Kenny Atkinson is in his first year of trying to turn around a franchise as well and nearly pulled off an impressive road win before suffering a 122-118 loss at Houston on Monday - Brooklyn's 12th loss in the last 14 games and 10th in 11 road games this season. The positive was the return of point guard Jeremy Lin, who collected 10 points and seven assists in 20 minutes off the bench after missing the last 17 games with a hamstring injury.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Spectrum Sportsnet (Los Angeles), YES (Brooklyn)
ABOUT THE LAKERS (10-17): Second-year point guard D'Angelo Russell scored 32 points and power forward Julius Randle recorded a triple-double in a 125-118 home win over Brooklyn last month, but the wins have been harder to come by since, even with Russell's return to the lineup. The former No. 2 overall pick sat out 11 games with a knee injury before returning in Sunday's 118-112 loss to the Knicks and was strong enough to play on the second night of a back-to-back on Monday. Russell delivered 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting in 20 minutes against the Kings but Randle was held to two points and the defense allowed Sacramento to shoot 56 percent from the floor.
ABOUT THE NETS (6-17): Brooklyn was waiting for Lin's return to give some stability to an offense that lacked consistent point guard play in his absence. "It helps having Jeremy back," Atkinson told reporters. "It just organizes us. He had seven assists in 20 minutes. That's big. He knows where to get Brook (Lopez) the ball and when to get it. ... There's some real positives to take out of (the game) offensively." Lopez scored 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting with Lin back but was not much help on the boards as the 7-0 center grabbed one rebound in Monday's loss.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nets PF Trevor Booker recorded a double-double in three of the last four games.
2. Lakers SG Lou Williams scored 14 points on 3-of-12 shooting on Monday to snap a string of five straight games with at least 24 points.
3. Los Angeles earned a 104-98 win at Brooklyn last season as Russell and Randle combined for 30 points.