LOS ANGELES — Whatever holiday spirit the Lakers started Thursday with, it was nowhere to be found after their 119-96 Christmas Day loss to the Lakers. Houston Rockets.
It was Los Angeles' third straight loss, sixth in its last 10 games, and it was so lopsided that coach JJ Redick questioned his team's professionalism.
“We don’t care much about that right now,” Redick said. “And this is the part that really bothers you. We don't care enough to do what needs to be done. We don’t care enough about being professional.”
The team's decline was so alarming that Redick said the problem needed to be addressed immediately this weekend before Los Angeles' next game, Sunday at home against Sacramento Kings.
“Saturday practice,” I told the guys, “is going to be awkward,” Redick said. “The meeting will be awkward. I won't play another 53 games like this.”
Game 29 for the 19-10 Lakers was barely competitive. The Rockets jumped out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter and never trailed. They never came close to falling behind – they led by double digits throughout the second half.
“Two words of the day are effort and execution,” Redick said. “And I feel like when we did both of those things at a high level, we were a good basketball team, and when we didn’t, we were a terrible basketball team. And tonight we were a terrible basketball team. And it started right away according to the law.”
Luka Doncicwho returned after missing the last game and a half with a bruised left calf, turned the ball over three times in the first two minutes, 11 seconds of playing time.
Not only did the Rockets get more offensive opportunities thanks to Doncic's mistakes, but Houston also chased “The Glass” when he missed. In this game, Houston outrebounded Los Angeles 48-25, with 17 of them being offensive.
All 10 of the Lakers' losses this season have been by 10 points or more. After an equally dismal 132-108 loss to the team. Phoenix Suns On Tuesday, Redick questioned his team's commitment to playing the right way and even accused a player (without naming him) of not being familiar with a core part of their strategy.
On Thursday, he repeated that criticism, again pointing to specific unprepared players without naming any names.
“It’s a matter of choice,” Redick said. “And too often we have guys who don’t want to make those choices. And it’s quite clear who these guys are.”
While Los Angeles got Doncic and Rui Hachimura (right groin strain) Returning to the lineup against Houston, he lost another key play in the game. Austin Reeves at halftime with soreness in his left calf, a pre-existing injury that recently forced him to miss three games. Reeves will undergo an MRI on Friday and his future status is unknown.
Doncic led Los Angeles with 25 points and 7 assists, but also had a team-worst six turnovers.
“I don’t know what needs to change, but something definitely needs to change,” Doncic said afterward. “Think we [were] lost the last three games. It definitely looks terrible. We need to figure out what we have. [to do]. … We just need to talk about it. Everyone should talk about it. I know JJ said it would be awkward. [for everybody]. What they should be.”
He added: “Everyone needs to try harder, starting with me.”
LeBron James scored 18 points and Los Angeles was outscored by 33 points in the 34 minutes he was in the game, which was his worst plus-minus record as a Lakers and the third-worst in any game of his career, according to ESPN Insights.
James, Hachimura and Marcus Smart – who started the second half in Reeves' place – all refused to talk to reporters after the game.
As a result, it was left to the discretion of the two role players… Jake LaRavia And Jared Vanderbilt — To talk about the state of the team at the moment.
“There may be a shutdown going on right now,” LaRavia said. “I don’t know what it is, but we just need to be able to get it back and get back on track.”
Vanderbilt, who scored 11 points and five rebounds off the bench and earned the team's best plus-minus of plus-five in 27 minutes, said the team had reached a critical point in the season.
“At the end of the day, certain things just need to be said and certain things need to be done, and we need to be able to communicate with each other and be receptive to that, whether it's criticism or whether we need to have tough conversations,” Vanderbilt said. “J.J. [was] implying that you need these conversations. We don't want this to continue. And now it’s three in a row, but we don’t want it to continue in the wrong direction.”
