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The Los Angeles Lakers fell to 19-10 on the season after a 119-96 blowout loss to the Houston Rockets on Christmas. The loss was the Lakers’ third straight defeat, and coach JJ Redick was quick to rip into his squad after the game.
“We don’t care enough right now,” Redick said. “And that’s the part that bothers you a lot. We don’t care enough to do the things that are necessary. We don’t care enough to be a professional.”
Redick’s frustration and questioning of his team’s professionalism came after the Lakers fell to 4-6 in their last 10 games following a 15-4 start to the season. The Lakers trailed by double digits for the entirety of the second half against the Rockets, only adding fuel to Redick’s post-game comments.
“The two words of the day were effort and execution,” Redick said. “And I feel like when we’ve done both of those things at a high level, we’ve been a good basketball team. When we haven’t, we’re a terrible basketball team. And tonight we were a terrible basketball team. And that started legitimately right away.”
The effort Redick questioned could be seen in nearly all facets of the game, including the Rockets outrebounding the Lakers 48-25.
Redick promised an “uncomfortable” practice for his team on Saturday as they prepare for Sunday’s game against the Sacramento Kings. The Kings sit last in the Western Conference at 7-23 and offer an opportunity for Los Angeles to get things moving in the right direction.
Lakers star Luka Dončić, who leads the NBA with 33.7 points per game, echoed his coach’s comments following the loss.
“I don’t know what has to change, but definitely something needs to change,” Dončić said. “Think we [were] blown out the last three games. It definitely looks, like, terrible. We just got to talk about it. Everybody got to talk about it. I know JJ said it’s going to be uncomfortable [for everybody]. As they should be. Everybody has got to give better effort, starting with me.”
