The Los Angeles Lakers were pulverized on the road 93-134 by the Miami Heat in what was easily the worst loss of the Lakers’ season so far. After preaching the positives of a new coach on the franchise, the Lakers likely didn’t expect the team to look almost identically average to last year’s roster under Darvin Ham.
It’s clear to everyone that coaching isn’t the problem in LA, something that LeBron James reiterated in his post-game interview by assigning the blame for their last two losses on the players and himself.
“There’s no schemes or Xs and Os or whatever that can get you through that. If you don’t want to compete, then that’s another issue… We gotta figure it out, because it’s definitely embarrassing.”
“Whatever (JJ) said, I agree. 100%, 1000%… It has been preached since July, so there should be an understanding… It’s not on the coaches. It’s definitely on us, [the players], for sure.”
LeBron on what went wrong with execution in the 3rd:
"Everything." pic.twitter.com/MsRv8Ukj6h
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 5, 2024
The Lakers looked flat as a beret on the night, with LeBron James being the only player to crack the 20-point barrier with his 29 points (12-18 FG) and eight assists. Anthony Davis followed up his worst performance of the season on Monday with an even worse performance tonight with just eight points (3-14 FG) on the night.
The Lakers’ defense was non-existent, with multiple plays where the players simply gave up on trying to get a stop.
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) December 5, 2024
It was a shocking display that came down to the pathetic effort from the players tonight.
Lakers just GAVE UP.
Literally walking back on defense 😠pic.twitter.com/kKafP0n1J4
— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) December 5, 2024
Nobody outside LeBron even tried, with LeBron himself falling off a cliff defensively after the first half.
Coaching can’t magically make the Lakers play with more fire on the court. JJ Redick has clearly tried building an identity on the court for the team as an active offensive unit with ball movements and three-point attempts, but that hasn’t been possible due to the pretty terrible pieces on the Lakers roster who can’t play that well.
The only thing that can save this franchise right now is mass-scale trades to revamp the rotation. Rob Pelinka can’t watch this anymore and place the blame on the coach or the superstars of the franchise. The roster as a whole is a major problem and are teetering off a cliff right now.
If they’re not comfortable using draft assets to enhance this core, they simply need to give up on winning another title with LeBron and Davis as the featured pieces. For all we know, the Lakers front office potentially gave up on a title years ago, which explains why Pelinka has refused to move assets for the last 20 months to enhance this roster with trades.
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