MIAMI — Following a 41-point drubbing by the Miami Heat and their sixth loss in eight games, the principal parties of the Los Angeles Lakers locker room took ownership of their recent skid.
“I’m embarrassed,” coach JJ Redick said. “We’re all embarrassed. It’s not a game that I thought we had the right fight, the right professionalism. Not sure what was lost in translation. There has to be some ownership on the court and I’ll take all the ownership in the world. This is my team and I lead it and I’m embarrassed.”
LeBron James, who broke out of one of the worst shooting slumps of his 22-year career to make his first 3-pointer in five games, said he agreed with Redick’s postgame assessments and defended the coaching staff.
“It’s not on the coaches,” said James, who had missed 20 straight 3-pointers before making one in the second quarter. “It’s definitely on us, for sure.”
Anthony Davis — who scored a season-low eight points on 3-for-14 shooting and was often lumbering up and down the floor — blamed himself. This marked consecutive games that Davis set a season-low in points. He had previously scored a season-low 12 points in the Lakers’ 29-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday.
“I hate losing,” Davis said. “The way we’re losing, we’re playing bad, blown out. I’m not playing well individually. It’s an accumulation of things and it’s frustrating. … And it’s on us. It’s on us players, to be honest. We’re getting the schemes. The schemes are on point. But we just gotta go out and do it and execute ’em. But I just gotta step up for the team.”
The loss dropped the Lakers to 12-10. They’re ninth in the Western Conference after opening the season 10-4. In four of their six losses over this stretch, they’ve lost by 20-plus points. Their average margin of defeat over that span is 21.8 points per game.
“There’s not a sense from me that we’re together right now,” Redick said. “And that’s what we say in the huddle. Doesn’t feel that way. Doesn’t feel that way. And, again, we’re in a tough stretch. And we’re all trying to find it.”
This was the third time the Lakers were outscored by over 20 points in the second half, with the third quarter, in particular, being the low point. They were outscored by 22 points in the third quarter on Nov. 23 against Denver in Los Angeles, by 18 points on Nov. 26 against the Suns in Phoenix, and then by 16 points on Wednesday against the Heat.
“I don’t know,” James said of Los Angeles’ second-half woes. “We got to figure it out because it’s definitely embarrassing, for sure.”
Tyler Herro was atop the Lakers’ defensive scouting report given he leads the Heat in scoring (23.7 points per game entering Wednesday’s contest). But he shook loose in the third quarter, scoring 21 of his 31 points, including making seven 3-pointers as the Lakers appeared disinterested and uncompetitive defensively.
Herro’s outburst propelled the Heat from a 17-point halftime lead into a 33-point lead entering the fourth quarter. Redick said the Lakers weren’t executing the game plan they went over at shootaround, before the game or at halftime.
“We’re having trouble right now on both ends with like base-level gameplan stuff,” Redick said. “It’s odd. It’s very odd. And I don’t know if that’s the travel and the lack of practice time. … You can’t really make adjustments if you can’t execute the base level coverage.”
The Lakers conclude their four-game road trip in Atlanta on Friday. Redick said he plans on meeting with the players — including some individually — and the coaching staff to try to figure out a way out of their recent nadir.
James said he views the team’s next film session as an opportunity for the group to have some of the difficult conversations they need to have.
“I think we squash it, for sure,” James said. “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 on individuals first. All of us have to take accountability. It’s great to see it on film and address it right there — right then and there. And then go from there.”
Required reading
- LeBron James’ slump and ‘nasty’ Lakers offense hit new lows in loss to Minnesota
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(Photo: Joe Murphy / Getty Images)
