Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick lit into his team after its Christmas Day loss to the Houston Rockets, and then ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins lit into Redick.
“Tonight we were a terrible basketball team, and that started legitimately right away” Redick [told reporters](https://x.com/ohnohedidnt24/status/2004448507961196765) after the Rockets humbled the Lakers 119-96, on their home court. “...We don’t care enough to be a professional...We don’t have it right now. Saturday’s practice, I told the guys it’s gonna be uncomfortable. The meeting is gonna be uncomfortable. I’m not doing another 53 games like this.”
Redick did not single anyone out by name but said it’s been “pretty consistent” which players have lacked effort and questioned his team’s “care factor.”
“Guys will say they want to win,” he said. “The care factor, to me is like, “Do I care enough to actually do what I’m supposed to do and just do it consistently.’ And that’s really what the championship habits are. And that’s what we don’t have right now.”
Earlier in the week, Redick called out his team for its lack of defensive effort.
The Lakers are 19-10, good for fourth in the Western Conference, but all 10 losses have come by double-digits. Their average margin of defeat, per ESPN, is 18.6 points per game, second-worst in the NBA ahead of the lowly Washington Wizards.
Meantime, ESPN’s Perkins, a former colleague of Redick’s at ESPN and a former NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, said the blame lies with the coach.
“It’s always someone else’s fault,” he said on “Get Up.” It’s never JJ Redick’s fault."
He added: “Look, I watched the game last night. Did I see LeBron James pouting all game long? Did I see the bad body language from LeBron? Absolutely. Did I see him not putting forth the defensive effort and getting back in transition, only having two rebounds last night in the game when you know a team loves to pound the glass and grab offensive rebounds?
“Did I see your best player, your franchise player, Luka Doncic, complaining after every single call? You damn right I did.
“But JJ, why don’t they care? Why are they not playing hard? Why are they not trying to compete on the defensive side of things? You’re the coach, that’s a reflection of you. When your team is not responding and going out there and competing at a high level defensively, and playing hard, that’s saying that they somewhat lack respect for you. So there’s gotta be a level of accountability all across the board.”
Perkins said Redick on Saturday needed to specifically address James and Doncic “for they lack of effort, lack of consistency and lack of leadership that they’re displaying right now.”