Los Angeles Lakers lose eighth in a row during 107-97 defeat to Brooklyn Nets

The Los Angeles Lakers (10-18) lost their eighth consecutive game Wednesday during a 107-97 defeat to the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center.

The Nets, playing without point guard Jeremy Lin, out-scored the Lakers 32-21 in the fourth quarter to seal an otherwise close game through the first three quarters. Bojan Bogdanovic led the way with 23 points while Sean Kilpatrick and Brook Lopez added 22 and 20 points respectively. Trevor Booker dominated Lakers power forward Julius Randle in their match-up, finishing with a season-high tally of 18 rebounds.

For the Lakers, D'Angelo Russell played 23 minutes, the most he's been on the court since returning from injury, but failed to impact game, making only 2/10 shots from the field for his 11 points and 2 assists. Nick Young, also returning from injury, had 14 points but made only 3/10 shots from deep. See final box score on ESPN.

Timofey Mozgov was the only bright spot for the Purple & Gold. The big man finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds and did a fair job of defending Lopez but got into some foul trouble when game came down to the wire. Julius Randle, who hasn't been the same player since returning from his hip-pointer injury, struggled once again, going 2/8 from the field for his 6 points.

The Lakers' second unit was particularly impressive. Larry Nance Jr. had just 6 points and 4 rebounds but made some stellar defensive plays and also posturized Brook Lopez with a highlight reel dunk. Lou Williams and Jordan Clarkson combined for 28 points from 24 combined shots but couldn't stop the Brooklyn guards from taking over the game in the fourth quarter.

Both teams shot less than 40 percent from the field for the game. The Lakers shot an unacceptable 22.2 percent from deep (6/22) while the Nets made 11/35 shots from beyond the arc. All in all, it was a rather ugly game in which both teams struggled to find any sustainable rhythm on offense.

Los Angeles will continue its seven-game road trip with visits to Philadelphia (Friday) and Cleveland (Saturday) over the weekend. The Nets will travel to Orlando Magic on Friday.