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Lakers coach JJ Redick points and direct his team during the fourth quarter of a loss to the Rockets on Thursday at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n
(Katelyn Mulcahy \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
When the Lakers were climbing up the Western Conference standings, improbably winning games with LeBron James and Luka Doncic injured and celebrating Austin Reaves\u2019 51-point performance<\/a> and ascent into stardom, the vibes were high. Players jumped off the bench to cheer for each other. They championed team bonding exercises such as slideshow presentations that introduced themselves to each other and a field trip to a Porsche driving experience. It all felt surprisingly easy, especially for a team that had several new additions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had it,\u201d Redick said wistfully Thursday. \u201cWe had it. I always say this about culture, I always say this about a good team being a functioning organism.\u201d<\/p>\n Redick snapped his fingers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can change like that,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe don\u2019t have it right now.\u201d<\/p>\n All three of the Lakers\u2019 most recent losses have been blowouts. With an average margin of defeat of 20.7 points, their total point differential has dropped to minus-15 on the season, which ranks 16th in the NBA.<\/p>\n Forward Jake LaRavia<\/a> said in the locker room that there felt like a \u201cdisconnect\u201d on the team, but couldn\u2019t verbalize more about how things had turned so suddenly. The team\u2019s seven-game winning streak at the end of November feels like a distant memory, although it should serve as a constant reminder of how a team shouldn\u2019t let its guard down, especially when it was just collecting wins off teams with losing records.<\/p>\n \u201cThis [has] kind of been the trending thing even when we were winning,\u201d forward Jarred Vanderbilt<\/a> said. \u201cObviously wins kinda shadow a lot of stuff. But it\u2019s been the same pretty much all year of how we finished games, lose games: transition defense, rebounding and stuff like that. It\u2019s been a trend all year.\u201d<\/p>\n