The Slovenian star shouldered the responsibility of putting the Lakers back together following an awful Christmas loss against the Rockets.
Following JJ Redick's heated postgame rant, Luka Doncic understands the level of urgency the Los Angeles Lakers need to carry in the wake of their recent disappointing losses.
"I don't know what has to change, but definitely something needs to change," he said in postgame after a 25-point outing in Thursday's loss. "We got to figure out, that's the thing we have [to do]. Everybody got to talk about it.
"I know JJ said it's going to be uncomfortable. As [it] should be."
The Lakers (19-10) endured a humiliating one-sided game on Christmas Day right in front of their home crowd, as the Houston Rockets (18-10) manhandled them with a 119-96 loss.
This marks the third consecutive defeat for Doncic and LA, and the sixth of their last 10 games.
Like the previous games, defense remained the main issue for the Lakers. Particularly, six different Rockets players scored 13+ points, with Amen Thompson dropping 26 markers.
Their effort was also nonexistent, allowing the Rockets to completely control the game with a 48-25 rebounding disparity.
Doncic emphasized that the entire team needs to acknowledge its lapses, and he sees himself as the starting point.
"I don’t know. Like I said, we need to talk about it. It’s probably going to be uncomfortable, but everybody has to give better effort, starting with me," he said.
Doncic added: "We just have to challenge everybody. Everybody has to challenge each other and their teammates. There’s no way we should be playing like this, so we’ve just got to be better than that."
As Austin Reaves is set to miss extended time due to his new calf injury, Doncic will face a tough challenge in leading the Lakers back on track.
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