The Los Angeles Lakers entered their second season under head coach JJ Redick and their first full season with star guard Luka Dončić, looking to improve after last year’s early playoff exit.
With just over one-third of the NBA season already completed, the Lakers have experienced some ups and downs this year. After getting off to a 15-4 start, the Lakers struggled with inconsistency. In Thursday’s primetime matchup, the team fell short of Redick’s expectations.
The Houston Rockets dominated the Lakers in a 119-96 win on Christmas Day. Redick sounded off after Los Angeles dropped a third straight game, questioning his team’s effort and professionalism.
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"We don't care enough right now," Redick said. "And that's the part that bothers you a lot. We don't care enough to do the things that are necessary. We don't care enough to be a professional."
Redick’s sharp critique comes amid the Lakers’ 4-6 mark in their last 10 games. Los Angeles failed to cut the second-half deficit against the Rockets to single digits, prompting Redick to call out his team’s lack of execution.
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"The two words of the day were effort and execution," Redick said. "And I feel like when we've done both of those things at a high level, we've been a good basketball team. When we haven't, we're a terrible basketball team. And tonight we were a terrible basketball team. And that started legitimately right away."
Redick also committed to making Saturday’s practice ahead of Sunday’s matchup with the Sacramento Kings "uncomfortable" for the Lakers.
Dončić, whose 25 points led the team Thursday, shared similar sentiments to Redick’s and called for change.
"I don't know what has to change, but definitely something needs to change," the five-time All-Star said. "Think we [were] blown out the last three games. It definitely looks, like, terrible. We just got to talk about it. Everybody got to talk about it. I know JJ said it's going to be uncomfortable [for everybody]. As they should be. Everybody has got to give better effort, starting with me."
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