Rui Hachimura stopped. Anthony Davis stood. Tyler Herro moved. Tyler Herro scored.
One game after being badly embarrassed on the offensive end in Minnesota, the Lakers were clobbered on the other end in Miami — their body language, their lack of energy and worst of all, their general lack of fight all reasons for serious concern.
After winning six straight games, the Lakers blew a game to Orlando at the free-throw line. They were embarrassed in the second half against Denver, outclassed by Phoenix, out-toughed by Oklahoma City and completely destroyed in Minnesota.
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And still, somehow, they never were worse than they were Wednesday. They looked too old. Too unskilled. Too undisciplined. Too unserious.
The Heat blew out the Lakers 134-93, a new low in a season in which losses are starting to stack up rapidly. Miami (10-10) made 24 three-pointers, the third-most given up by a Lakers team.
They’ve lost six of their last eight games by an average of more than 21 points.
“I’m embarrassed; we’re all embarrassed. It’s not a game that I thought we had the right fight, the right professionalism. Not sure what was lost in translation,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.
“There has to be some ownership on the court and I’ll take all the ownership in the world. This is my team and I lead it and I’m embarrassed. But I can’t physically get us organized. I can’t physically be into the basketball. I can’t physically talk and call out [switches] and physically call out coverages.
“I’m not blaming players. … I own this, but going to need some ownership on the court as well.”
Redick roamed the sideline helpless, all his rage timeouts spent. Herro hit seven straight threes at one point in the third quarter, heating up faster than a microwave. Every loose ball and rebound seemingly went to Miami. Every ounce of momentum escaped the Lakers.
“I’m embarrassed for the Lakers,” Magic Johnson posted on X during the game.
LeBron James, who had been in a miserable slump during the stretch, found his touch, leading the Lakers with 29 points. But everyone else, including Davis, disappeared.
In one of his worst games as a Laker, Davis scored just eight points on three-for-14 shooting, routinely getting beaten off the dribble by Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. He had only seven rebounds and five assists, the Lakers (12-10) unable to solve any Miami double teams, with Davis looking like a player with no answers.
“I hate losing,” Davis said. “The way we’re losing, we’re playing bad, blown out. I’m not playing well individually. It’s an accumulation of things and it’s frustrating. You want to play well. And obviously, me playing well helps the team, helps our guys. And I’m not playing well. It’s kind of tough on our team. And we just, defensively, a lot of breakdowns. And it’s on us. It’s on us players, to be honest.
“We’re getting the schemes. The schemes are on point. But we just gotta go out and do it and execute ’em.”
The Lakers, still without guard Austin Reaves because of a lower back bruise, were only mildly better on offense than on defense. They shot just 22.7% from three-point range and 43% from the field. Take away James and Hachimura and the Lakers were just 19 for 62 (30.6%).
Redick said the Lakers are a team that doesn’t look “together” — something that was easy to see as players had animated conversations with one another and with the bench after badly blown defensive possessions.
“We’re having trouble right now on both ends with like base-level, game-plan stuff. It’s odd. It’s very odd,” Redick said. “…You can’t really make adjustments if you can’t execute the base-level coverage.”
Over the last eight games, the Lakers have the 28th-ranked offense and the 27th-ranked defense. They finish a four-game trip Friday in Atlanta.
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“Everyone in this locker room hates losing. I know everyone in this locker room tries to do the right thing,” Davis said. “We don’t go out and try to mess up or have a breakdown in a coverage or miss a shot or not execute a play. We’re gonna make mistakes. It happens in a game. But we gotta limit those mistakes. We’re having so many on both ends of the floor, and it’s not helping us. So we gotta do whatever it takes to get a win on Friday.
“But I have the utmost confidence in this group and this coaching staff. But like I said, I personally just think it starts with me. If I play better, then guys play better.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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