The Los Angeles Lakers have now lost three consecutive games in blowout fashion. They lost by 15 to the L.A. Clippers last Saturday, then by 24 to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. Then, on Christmas Day against the Houston Rockets, they lost by 23. Luka Doncic was only available for the most recent loss, but he can clearly see the issues plaguing this team.
Every one of the Lakers losses this season has looked relatively similar. They look completely outmatched physically from the jump, and then quit early. They simply don’t have the defense, speed or athleticism to stay in games against some of the better teams in the league, and they haven’t shown the fight necessary to overcome that.
Head coach JJ Redick went full tilt about this issue after the Christmas loss, and Doncic echoed some of the sentiments.
“I don’t know what has to change, but, definitely something needs to change,” Luka said. “I think we’ve been blown out the last three games. [It] definitely looks terrible, but we have to figure out. We have to talk about it. Everybody has to talk about it. I know JJ [Redick] says it’s going to be uncomfortable, as it should be.”
He admitted that while uncomfortable moments shouldn’t be required for teams to figure out who they are, it may be necessary for the Lakers in this moment.
“We are, definitely going through it right now, I would think,” he said. “It’s not necessary to have it, but, obviously, you have to go back to become great. I think we’re, definitely going through right now, so we have to figure it out.”
Doncic is effectively the leader of the Lakers, and felt it’s on everyone — not just him — to call players out for a lack of care.
“I think we just gotta challenge everybody. Everybody needs to challenge first [themselves] and then their teammates. There’s no way we should be playing like this, so just gotta be better than that.”
It’s unclear at this moment if the Lakers can fix things simply by caring more, or if the roster simply isn’t built to win these types of games against these types of teams. Of course, in order for the Lakers to know the latter, they have to do the former.
Doncic and the Lakers need to make changes fast, because in the crowded Western Conference, too long of a skid can be the difference between a top three seed and the Play-In Tournament.
Jake LaRavia sees disconnect in Lakers
Jake LaRavia was given an opportunity to theorize what’s going wrong for the Lakers right now. And while he didn’t have a strong idea of why, he can sense something isn’t right within the locker room or on the floor right now.
“I couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t tell you. I think there might be a disconnect right now,” LaRavia said. “But we’ll get on track. Have this meeting, what JJ was talking about, and hopefully the uncomfortability of it can kind of move us in the right direction.”
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