The Los Angeles Lakers‘ 119-96 loss on Christmas Day to the Houston Rockets was their third loss in a row, and all three of those losses have come by at least 15 points. Overall, they have lost six of their last 10 contests, and while they have a very respectable 19-10 record, that mark is hiding plenty of flaws.
Most, if not all, of those flaws are on the defensive end of the court. On Thursday, Los Angeles allowed the Rockets to shoot 53.3% from the field and played with a lack of consistent effort and physicality. Even worse, it got outrebounded 48-25, which allowed Houston to score 24 second-chance points.
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Coach JJ Redick is making it clear that he’s growing more and more frustrated with the lack of effort and execution from his players. After Thursday’s loss, he didn’t hold back his disgust.
“The two words of the day were effort and execution, and I feel like when we done both of those things at a high level, we’ve been a good basketball team,” Redick said. “When we haven’t, we’re a terrible basketball team, and tonight, we’re a terrible basketball team, and that started legitimately right away.
“… We don’t care enough right now. 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 also warned that things will be “uncomfortable” for his players before the team’s next game on Sunday against the Sacramento Kings.
“Saturday’s practice — I told the guys — it’s going to be uncomfortable,” Redick said. “The meeting is going to be uncomfortable. I’m not doing another 53 games like this.”
Since starting the season 15-4, the Lakers have developed some very visible and perhaps large cracks in their armor. Opponents have been tearing at those cracks ever since, and L.A. needs to fix those tears right away before it falls even more in the standings.
It ended Christmas Day in fourth place in the Western Conference, but it is now 3.5 games behind the second-place San Antonio Spurs, who blew out the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder for the third time in two weeks and have won eight games in a row.
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This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: JJ Redick: Lakers ‘don’t care enough right now’