LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers’ effort and overall execution were non-existent on Christmas Day, losing 119-96 to the Houston Rockets, sending Los Angeles into its third straight loss and a season-high losing streak.
The Lakers suffered three consecutive losses for the first time this season, with two losses by more than 20 points. Their record fell to 19 wins and 10 losses, ranking fifth in the Western Conference.
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Head coach J.J. Redick made no secret of his feelings about his team’s lack of execution in a 23-point loss that resulted in the Lakers giving up 17 offensive rebounds, scoring 24 points on second chances and never leading at any point in the game.
“It’s because we don’t care enough right now. That’s the part that bothers me. We don’t care enough to do what’s necessary. We don’t care enough to be professionals,” Reddick said.
“The two words today are ‘effort’ and ‘execute.’ I feel like when we do those two things at a high level, we’re a good basketball team. When we don’t do that, we’re a bad basketball team, and we were a bad basketball team tonight.”
From the start of the game, the Lakers were in hot pursuit, trailing by double digits and committing five turnovers in the first five minutes.
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The Rockets offense excelled against a Lakers defense that couldn’t find a stop in the stop sign-making warehouse, hitting 10 of Houston’s first 16 shots and constantly rushing into the paint for second chances.
The Lakers cut the deficit to four points at the end of the second quarter, but the Rockets pushed on and closed the door the rest of the way (their largest lead was 24 points) behind six Rockets in double figures, led by Kevin Durant (25 points) and Amen Thompson (26 points, seven rebounds, five assists).
Luka Doncic finished with 25 points (seven assists, five rebounds), showing signs of his decline in his return after missing Los Angeles’ final game. His return was welcomed by the Rockets, who kept pressuring him and trying to keep him accelerating to 94 feet, scoring all of his points in the first three quarters and going scoreless in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t know what needs to change, but there’s definitely something that needs to change,” Doncic said around the team. “We have to figure it out; this is what we have [to do]. Everyone has to talk about it. I know JJ said it would be uncomfortable. As it should be. “
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To make matters worse, the Lakers lost Austin Reaves before halftime. A calf injury that also kept him out of the rotation recently led to an early exit for Reeves, who scored 12 points in 14 minutes.
LeBron James scored 18 points (5 rebounds) on 7-for-13 shooting.
The Lakers will hold a practice Saturday before their next game at home against the Kings on Sunday, and Redick confirmed it will be an uncomfortable one after their biggest home loss of the season.
“It’s a matter of making a choice, and often none of us want to make that choice,” Redick said. “These guys are very consistent. It’s going to be uncomfortable in practice on Saturday. I’m not going to play 53 games like this again.”