NEW YORK — Once it was evident that LeBron James was likely to miss the remainder of the Lakers’ road trip because of a strained left groin — an absence that will probably extend beyond this weekend — it was clear that Monday’s road game against the Brooklyn Nets was a matchup they could not overlook.

That sentiment became even more accurate as the Lakers’ injury report grew, with starting center Jaxson Hayes and key reserve forward Dorian Finney-Smith also missing the matchup, in addition to starting forward Rui Hachimura.

So the challenge for the Lakers became just as demanding mentally as it was physically: don’t become disengaged against a struggling opponent that had a 21-42 record going into the game.

The undersized Lakers (40-23) didn’t pass the challenge, falling to the Nets, 111-108, Monday night at Barclays Center after Luka Doncic’s last-second, 76-foot desperation heave hit the arena’s overhead scoreboard before falling wide and short.

“It was a very low-level communication game for our team,” coach JJ Redick said. “I don’t think being short-handed is an excuse for how we played basketball.”

Doncic and Austin Reaves combined to shoot 11 for 40 from the field (4 for 15 from 3-point range), with the Nets aggressively defending both players with traps and double-teams, challenging the Lakers to beat them with their other players.

And it was those players who helped keep the Lakers in the game while Doncic (22 points, 12 assists, 12 rebounds) and Reaves (17 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds) struggled to make shots in the team’s second straight loss after an eight-game winning streak.

Gabe Vincent made six 3-pointers on his way to a season-high 24 points, his most since joining the Lakers in July 2023, and helped the Lakers get out in front early by scoring 13 of their first 21 points. Jordan Goodwin scored 17 points to go with eight rebounds, making a career-high five 3-pointers on six attempts. Dalton Knecht added 19 points on 8-of-18 shooting.

“We made some good pocket decisions,” Redick said. “When we were able to get them in the blender, we generated good offense. There (were) some good to greats that we missed throughout the game. Those guys played well. They were obviously putting a lot of defensive attention on Luka and Austin, and neither of those guys shot the ball well but, they got 22 assists between them.”

But Doncic (five turnovers) and Reaves (three giveaways) had their struggles against the Nets’ defensive pressure, combining for more than half of the Lakers’ 15 turnovers, which led to 19 Brooklyn points.

“Should have made better decisions on that one,” Doncic said. “I started the game doing a really good job with the decisions and then just kind of got out of it.”

Reaves added: “I’ve gotta be better. We’ll start there with me. I gotta be better.”

The Lakers only took two free throws in the first two quarters, entering halftime trailing 48-47, with plenty of players vocalizing their frustrations with the officials the entire game. The Lakers shot 15 for 19 from the free-throw line, while the Nets were 19 for 30.

When he drew a Nets foul call midway through the third quarter, Doncic threw up his hands in celebration. When a later foul was overruled, wiping out a made basket, he dismissively waved his hands at the refs in frustration.

Doncic picked up his fourth technical foul in his 12 games with the Lakers (his ninth of the season), late in the third.

“At the end of the day, it was a lot,” Doncic said. “It wasn’t fair. But we still got to still play the game. I got to keep playing the game. But it was a lot.”

Redick was critical of his team’s approach in one of the few games they have this month against a team that is not battling for a postseason spot. They finish this trip against Milwaukee and Denver on back-to-back nights before returning home for a stretch of five games in seven nights.

“It was just an overall mentality just to take shortcuts,” Redick said. “We just wanted to take shortcuts. They scored 20 points on us gambling. They had 16 offensive rebounds. We ball-watched all night. We said no dare shots. I can’t, I’ll go through it, they probably made six, seven uncontested threes. Just shortcuts.

“Want to be a good team? You want to win in the NBA? You gotta do the hard stuff. We couldn’t even pass to each other. We couldn’t enter our offense, running ball screens literally at halfcourt. That’s going to end up in a turnover. I don’t know what we’re doing.”

Even with the Lakers struggling to keep the Nets off of the offensive glass, with Brooklyn scoring 16 second-chance points off of 16 offensive rebounds, Vincent’s late shot-making helped keep the Lakers in the game.

He made a 3-pointer to cut their deficit to 101-98 with 1:49 remaining, and made a pair of free throws to make it 104-100 with 1:22 left.

But the Lakers didn’t get the stops they needed down the stretch.

After Reaves banked in a 30-footer that was assisted by Doncic to cut the margin to 106-103, Ziaire Williams had a putback layup after D’Angelo Russell missed an 18-footer, putting the Nets back up 108-103.

Doncic made a 35-footer with 10.6 seconds left to get them back within two, but the Nets then designed a nice play to get Noah Clowney free and he dunked while getting fouled for a five-point advantage. Reaves made a layup with three seconds left, and the Nets’ Cameron Johnson missed a pair of free throws with 2.1 seconds left before Doncic’s desperation heave.

With all of their injuries, the Lakers used a lineup of Doncic, Reaves, Vincent, Knecht and center Alex Len that had never started together. Len and Trey Jemison III combined for only two points and five rebounds in Hayes’ absence.

Clowney had 19 points and five rebounds off the bench for the Nets, who snapped a seven-game losing streak. Cameron Johnson and Keon Johnson both scored 18 points, and Tyrese Martin added 14.