Lakers coach JJ Redick left nothing under the tree for his players after a pathetic performance against the Rockets on Christmas Day.
After a 119-96 home loss to Houston, Redick went to his team’s postgame and called out his players without really shedding light on who in his eyes is the problem.
“Yes, two words of the day were effort and execution. When we’ve done both of those things at a high level, we’ve been a good basketball team. If we haven’t, we’ve been a terrible basketball team,” Redick said when asked what went wrong Thursday.
“And tonight we were a terrible basketball team, and it started off legit right away.”
While Redick didn’t mention any names, Lakers role player Rui Hachimura was among those who looked lost on the court Thursday night.
Hachimura scored zero points on 0-6 shooting in 28 minutes with a minus-29 plus/minus rating.
“Because we don’t care enough right now,” Redick said of his team’s problems. “We all care. But we don’t do the things that are necessary. We don’t care enough to be a professional.”
After starting the season 15-4, the Lakers (19-10) are currently a shadow of their former selves, dropping six of their last 10 games and being outscored by an average of 9.6 points per game.
“It’s a matter of making choices, and too often we have guys who don’t want to make that choice. And it’s pretty consistent who those guys are. And so Saturday’s practice is going to be uncomfortable,” Redick said. “The meeting will be awkward. I’m not going to do another 53 matches like this.”
The team’s best player, Luka Dončić, agreed that the Lakers needed to look inward when asked about the plan to right the ship.
“I don’t know what needs to change, but something definitely needs to change,” Doncic told reporters. “Guess we [were] blown out the last three games. It looks absolutely terrible. We have to figure out that this is what we have to do. … We just have to talk about it. Everyone had to talk about it. I know JJ said it would be awkward [for everybody]. As they should be.”
“Everyone has to do their best, starting with me,” he added.
Meanwhile, LeBron James had a solid game in his own right, going for 18 points with five assists on 7-13 from the field, but he didn’t speak to the media after the loss.
Lineups with James and Hachimura have a defensive rating of 127.2, one of the worst in the NBA.
The Lakers also lost one of their top players, Austin Reaves, on Thursday to a calf injury, which the team said will require an MRI.
If he misses extended time, expect free agent Marcus Smart to sign to help in an expanded role on perimeter defense.
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