The Lakers suffered a blowout loss to the Rockets on Christmas Day. They lost 96-119 at home after losing Austin Reaves to an injury during the game. But this was not their biggest concern tonight.
Following the game, the Lakers’ head coach JJ Redick spoke to the media and tore his own team apart about their lack of effort on defense. Upon hearing these comments, their star guard, Luka Doncic, addressed the media and also spoke about the same thing that Redick addressed.
But instead of blaming others, Doncic first took the blame on himself and then explained the next steps for the Lakers.
“I don’t know what needs to change, but something definitely needs to change. I think we’ve blown out the last two leads. Definitely looks like terrible, but we’ll figure it out,” reassured Doncic.
“That’s the team we have; we just have to talk about it. Everybody’s got to talk about it, as JJ said it would be uncomfortable, or I hope so, as it should be,” said Doncic initially.
“As I said, we’re going to talk about it, probably going to be uncomfortable, but everybody has to give better effort, starting with me,” said Doncic while addressing the defensive concerns of the team.
The Slovenian superstar has been under the media’s scrutiny for his lack of defensive effort for some time now. Even after tonight’s loss, NBA veteran Kendrick Perkins took to social media and criticized Doncic for his lack of hustle on defense.
“Again, the Rockets exposed what we already knew, that the Lakers are horrible defensively, and it starts with Luka. He gave no effort defensively tonight and went back to his old ways of complaining to the officials all damn game,” wrote Perkins on X.
In my opinion, Redick was referring to not just Luka Doncic but also the lack of effort and ‘caring’ from LeBron James and Rui Hachimura. Even Lakers fans have been criticizing James for his lack of effort on defense.
Doncic finished the game with 25 points, five rebounds, seven assists, two blocks, and one steal while shooting 9-of-17 from the field (52.9%). He had the third-lowest net (+/- rating) on the entire Lakers team (-25) after LeBron James (-33) and Rui Hachimura (-29).
James had 18 points, two rebounds, five assists, two steals, and one block in the 32 minutes he played tonight, shooting 7-of-13 from the floor (53.8%).
Meanwhile, Hachimura finished the game with only two rebounds, one assist, and one steal in 28 minutes played, shooting 0-for-6 from the field.
For those who do not know, a net (+/-) rating is an assessment of the impact of the player’s presence on the floor by evaluating the difference between the team’s points scored and the points allowed to the opposition while a player is on the court.
In essence, James, Doncic, and Hachimura, three of the Lakers’ five starters, were statistically the biggest liabilities on defense. Therefore, Doncic anticipates a similar “uncomfortable” practice as JJ Redick said they said.
Falling to 19-10 on a three-game losing streak, the Lakers will face the Kings in their next game on Sunday. It will be interesting to see how the Lakers find a way around this persistent problem. Trade rumors are already buzzing as analysts expect this could lead to moves by the front office.
