MIAMI (AP) – A 29-point loss in Minnesota on Monday. A 41-point loss in Miami on Wednesday.
Add it up, and it’s the worst two-game stretch in Los Angeles Lakers history.
The Lakers lost to the Heat 134-93 on Wednesday, that loss coming two days after a 109-80 loss to the Timberwolves. The 70-point margin is an all-time, two-game low for the Lakers; they were outscored by 67 over two separate two-game spans of the 2016-17 season.
“It sucks, for sure, to get whooped like that twice in a row,” Lakers star LeBron James said. “For sure.” The Lakers ran off a six-game winning streak last month to get to 10-4. They’re 2-6 since, four of those losses coming by 25 or more points. On Wednesday was the low point; the 41-point loss was not only the worst of the season, but it marked only the 11th time in Lakers history – more than 6,800 games, including playoffs – that they’ve lost by more than 40.
“I’m embarrassed,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “We’re all embarrassed.” Redick is now 12-10 in Year 1 as a coach, and this stretch has obviously been his toughest yet. He oscillated in his postgame remarks on Wednesday between pointing the finger at himself – “I’ll take all the ownership in the world. This is my team and I lead it,” he said – and saying the team is having trouble with the simplest parts of the game plan. “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. We’re in a tough stretch and we’re all trying to find it.”
Miami outscored the Lakers 72-15 from three-point range – that 57-point differential tying the fourth-largest in NBA history.
“We’re having trouble right now on both ends with like base-level gameplan stuff,” Redick said. “It’s odd. It’s very odd.”
Anthony Davis had a season-low 12 points for the Lakers on Monday. He was four points worse on Wednesday on 3-for-14 shooting.
“Guys are doing their part. I’m not doing mine, which is just tough for our team,” Davis said. “I just have to play better individually on both ends. I hold myself to a higher standard and I haven’t been doing what I needed to do – especially offensively for our team.”
James said he agreed with everything Redick said, and Davis even echoed a word his coach used multiple times. “Embarrassing,” Davis said. James hopes the rest of the Lakers’ locker room takes on that level of accountability.
