The Los Angeles Lakers held a private team meeting following their Christmas Day blowout loss, aiming to address a three-game skid that exposed lapses in effort, focus, and defensive execution.
Coach J.J. Redick, calm yet firm, led the session to align the players and staff, emphasizing accountability, team cohesion, and the need to correct recurring mistakes before the season’s final stretch.
“Myself, I’m always going to look in the mirror first,” Redick said, acknowledging his own role, “It’s easy as a player or coach to say, ‘It’s this guy’s fault,’ or blame external factors for what went wrong.
“The truth is uncomfortable. You have to put everything out there, that’s all it is.”
Redick described the session as a day of “recalibration and reconnection,” and reported that discussions with players were “very positive”, and several Lakers, including Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton, agreed with the sentiment.
Hachimura highlighted improved alignment, while Ayton promised to hold teammates accountable during games after lapses in effort after earlier in the week, Redick had criticized the team after a 119-96 loss to the Houston Rockets.
“We don’t care enough right now,” Redick said. “That’s the part that bothers me a lot.
“We don’t care enough to be professional.”
He warned that Saturday’s practice and meeting would be “uncomfortable,” stressing the need for change, as the Lakers‘ struggles had centered on defense and rebounding, particularly against the Houston Rockets, where they were outrebounded 48-25.
Ayton, the team’s leading rebounder, acknowledged his own underperformance with only two boards, attributing it to a lack of focus.
Lakers rebound to winning ways against Kings
And the response after Redick‘s talk was immediate as Luka Doncic poured in 34 points, while LeBron James added 24, as the Lakers ended their three-game losing streak with a decisive 125-101 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
Nick Smith Jr. contributed 21 points off the bench for the Lakers on December 28, who had dropped four of their previous six games by double digits. For Sacramento, DeMar DeRozan scored 22 points, and Maxime Raynaud added 16, as six Kings players finished in double figures.
After two days of reflection following the lopsided loss to the Rockets, including a Saturday team meeting and a rare Sunday morning shootaround, the Lakers surged in the second quarter.
Doncic scored 15 of his 24 first-half points during the period, giving Los Angeles a 68-53 lead at the break and Smith’s early impact was significant, scoring 10 points in just eight minutes while hitting all four of his field-goal attempts.
Coach Redick had highlighted Smith, a third-year shooting guard from Arkansas, as a key contributor with Austin Reaves sidelined for the next month due to a calf injury.
The Lakers maintained their intensity after halftime. Doncic, Rui Hachimura, and James all connected on three-pointers during a 13-2 run early in the third quarter, extending the lead to 26 points.
Sacramento struggled to replicate the defensive effort they had shown over their previous four games, allowing Los Angeles to shoot 52.8% from the floor. James was particularly efficient, converting 11 of 13 shots from the field.
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