The Los Angeles Lakers have already had some bad losses this season. Seven of their 10 losses in the 2024-25 campaign thus far have been by double digits and five of them have been by more than 20 points. LeBron James and Anthony Davis, normally superstars, have both looked ordinary at times already this year.
But all of the bad losses pale in comparison to Wednesday night’s crushing blowout at the hands of the Miami Heat. The Lakers lost 134-93, a 41-point margin of defeat, and at no point during the game looked competitive. In fact, there were several defensive possessions where it looked like none of the five players on the court were trying at all.
After the game, LeBron was asked about the effort level against the Heat and if there were any adjustments that could be made to curb that type of performance, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“There’s no schemes or Xs and Os or whatever that can get you through that. If you don’t want to come to compete, then that’s other issues.”
James continued to not mince words about the Lakers’ effort level and what needs to be done about it:
“I don’t know. We gotta figure it out because it’s definitely embarrassing, for sure.”
The Lakers star did not want the coaching staff to take any blame for a loss like that either. He made sure to say that it’s the players that need to figure things out.:
“Yeah. We’ve been preaching it since July. I mean, I wasn’t here in July, I was preaching some other stuff with Team USA, but it’s been preached since July. So there should be an understanding. July, August, then we got September, absolutely. It’s not on the coaches. It’s definitely on us, for sure.”
And when asked if there are things outside of the film room that can be done to correct these issues, James said that the film room is necessary for players seeing where they went wrong:
“I think we should watch it, for sure, and just see when you’re individually f—ing up and you’re trying to rely on everybody else to cover for you, I think it starts with the individuals first. All of us have to take accountability. It’s great to see it on film because you can address it right then and there and then go from there.”
Things are far from positive in the Lakers locker room right now. And while both coaches and players want to take accountability for the issues happening, it almost doesn’t matter if the issues continue to happen and the Lakers continue to get embarrassed in each of their games.
The good news is that there is still plenty of season left for the Lakers to course-correct and get back on a winning path.
JJ Redick calls for ownership from Lakers players
JJ Redick is being tested early on in his first year as the Lakers head coach. Redick has seen his team suffer some bad losses the past couple of weeks, but they hit their lowest point after a blowout loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
The Heat outplayed the Lakers in every area and put the game away early in the third quarter behind a Tyler Herro barrage from deep. Ultimately, they suffered a 134-93 defeat and seem completely lost on the floor.
After the game, head coach JJ Redick lamented their performance and called for ownership from the players.
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