The idea, JJ Redick said before the game, would be for the Lakers to get back to the plan he set in place when he became coach. That plan, to take the long view and favor the process over the results, helped the team win 10 of its first 14 games.
“We’re all competitive. I’m competitive. We have to be about the process and doing things the right way and building that consistency,” he said Tuesday night. “I believe that if our group does that, we’ll have good results and results we can live with.”
But after two days of hammering home a need to be physical, two days after they were badly beaten by a rival in a third quarter in which they “stopped playing” in their own coach’s assessment, the Lakers again failed to be felt on the defensive end.
Facing a potent team in Phoenix, one that they are fighting both in the West and in their NBA Cup group, the Lakers again were outclassed in the second half, losing 127-100 to the Suns at Footprint Center.
They’ve lost three straight games.
Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 25 points and 15 rebounds while LeBron James had 18 points and 10 assists, though he had five turnovers. D’Angelo Russell scored 16 off the bench, his first game in double figures since Nov. 15.
The Lakers play their final group game in the NBA Cup on Friday at home against Oklahoma City, needing a win (and likely a loss by the Suns to the San Antonio Spurs) to have a chance at the knockout stages because of point-differential tiebreakers.
“As you’re competing, it’s nearly impossible to think about the big picture when you’re getting your ass kicked,” guard Austin Reaves said. “ But when it’s all over, you sit down, you think about it, and we’re 10-7 right now. I believe we’re still in a good spot. … But in the moment, it sucks because who wants to even think about the big picture in the moment? You’re thinking about trying to win a game.”
Just as in their previous loss against Denver, the Lakers were raced off the floor, their body language as awful as their performance. After the Denver outscored them 37-15 in the third quarter Saturday, the Lakers lost the third to the Suns 36-18 and their spirit again looked broken, even if Redick said his team kept competing.
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“Our guys kept playing. Our guys kept playing,” he repeated. “It was a tough night.”
Maybe Redick saw more than the score suggested, the Lakers’ offense and defense taking turns at putting the other at a disadvantage. In the third, the Lakers made only six of 21 from the field, including two of 11 from three-point range. The Suns shot 60.9% in the quarter.
“Once again we just didn’t score in the third quarter,” Davis said. “And our defensive communication was lax. And they were able to get some open shots and open dunks and shots at the rim. And then, now we got guys in rotation and they’re sprinting out to their shooters for threes. I think our competitive spirit is always there every night. I think no one comes out and says, ‘We don’t want to compete.’ But I think it can look that way or seem that way when we’re just not on the same page because we’re not talking. So we just got to get better at that part of it.”
The fight the Lakers lacked in the second half materialized early, even after Kevin Durant, returning from an injury absence of two-plus weeks, opened the game with a three. But the focus wasn’t there often enough or long enough.
They botched a coverage at the end of the first quarter to give Phoenix an open three. They gave up an uncontested layup at the end of the third.
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“We may have to just look at some things defensively, particularly against really good offensive teams, about what our overall sort of strategies are,” Redick said after. “They kind of got whatever they wanted.”
The Lakers are giving up 118.2 points per 100 possessions, fourth most in the league.
“We’re at the bottom of the pack,” Davis said. “I’m not saying, ‘Oh man, top five, top three.’ We should be able to get to the middle of the pack and that can change a lot for us. So we’ll just take it one game at a time and try to have some pride in ourselves defensively.”
The litany of defensive issues — transition problems, keeping teams off the glass, playing with force on the perimeter — added toothlessness at the rim when the Suns routinely went to the basket while the Lakers stood and watched.
The game only got worse from there, Redick pulling the starters midway through the fourth. And in one final blow, center Jaxson Hayes, back in the lineup after missing two weeks because of an ankle injury, appeared to aggravate it late before he limped toward the locker room.
The Lakers have a short turnaround, playing against the Spurs on Wednesday in San Antonio.
“You’re frustrated at times, obviously, but you never get frustrated with the process,” James said. “That is what it is. And just keep working.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
