Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick was not in a good mood after their 119-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day.
The team suffered its third straight loss in a lopsided game on Thursday that was made worse when rising star Austin Reeves exited the game with another calf injury. The Rockets led by double digits throughout the second half and outrebounded the Lakers 48-25.
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After the game, Redick complained about his team’s effort and was blunt in his assessment of their performance:
“The two words today were effort and execution. I feel like when we do those two things at a high level, we’re a good basketball team. When we don’t, we’re a bad basketball team. Tonight, we were a bad basketball team.”
He went on to note that the team’s next practice on Saturday won’t be a fun one for some players, directly questioning their consistency:
We don’t care enough right now. This is the part that bothers me. We don’t care enough to do the necessary things. We are not caring enough and professional enough.
It’s a matter of making a choice, and often we have people who don’t want to make that choice. There’s a lot of consistency in who these people are. I told the players that Saturday’s practice was going to be uncomfortable. Meetings can be uncomfortable. I’m not going to do 53 more games like this.
The pick was reminiscent of what Redick said after the Lakers’ previous loss to the Phoenix Suns, in which he painted the team’s defensive effort as a series of incorrect choices.
JJ Redick is not a happy man right now. (Photo by Mike Christie/Getty Images)
(Mike Christie via Getty Images)
His full postgame session Thursday:
Despite the absence of LeBron James at the beginning of the season, the Lakers have performed stably throughout almost the entire season, but currently have a record of 19 wins and 10 losses, ranking only fifth in the Western Conference. The team can only hope that Reeves isn’t injured again after missing three games with a calf strain last week, but there are other issues that need to be addressed now.
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The next chance to get back on track is Sunday at home against the Sacramento Kings, who currently sit at 7-23, the worst record in the Western Conference.
