Lakers defensive woes and lackluster Christmas Day effort leads to third straight loss

LOS ANGELES --- The effort and overall execution were nonexistent for the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day, losing to the Houston Rockets 119-96 for Los Angeles' third straight loss, the highest losing streak of the season.

The Lakers have now lost three straight games for the first time this season, two of the losses being by over 20 points, as they drop to 19-10 with a fifth-place position standing in the West.

Coach JJ Redick didn't hold back how he felt toward the team's lack of execution in the 23-point loss, a defeat that saw the Lakers give up 17 offensive rebounds that resulted in 24 second-chance points and not lead for a single moment of the game.

“It’s because we don't care enough right now. That's the part that bothers me a lot. We don't care enough to do the things that are necessary. We don't care enough to be professionals," Redick said.

"The two words of the day were 'effort' and 'execution.' I feel like when we've done both of those things at a high level, we've been a good basketball team. When we haven’t, we're a terrible basketball team and tonight we were a terrible basketball team."

The Lakers immediately were on their heels to start the game, down double-digits and committing five turnovers within the first five minutes. 

The Rockets' offense was clicking against a Lakers defense that couldn't find a stop in a stop-sign-making warehouse, with Houston hitting 10 of their first 16 shots and consistently crashing the paint for second-chance opportunities.

The Lakers got their closest within four points toward the end of the second quarter but Houston kept their push and closed the door shut the rest of the way (their biggest lead being 24) behind six Rockets finishing in double figures, with Kevin Durant (25 points) and Amen Thompson (26 points, seven rebounds, five assists) leading the way.

Luka Dončić, who finished the game with 25 points (seven assists, five rebounds), showed he was a shell of himself in his return after missing L.A.'s last game. His return was welcomed by the Rockets pressuring him and trying to speed him up constantly 94 feet, scoring all his points in the first three quarters and going scoreless in the fourth.

"I don't know what has to change, but definitely something needs to change," Dončić said surrounding the team. "We got to figure it 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."

To make matters worse, the Lakers lost Austin Reaves before they could reach halftime. A calf injury, the same one that's been keeping him out of the rotation lately, led to an early exit for Reaves as he finished with 12 points in 14 minutes.

LeBron James finished with 18 points (five rebounds) on seven-of-13 shooting.

Before their next game, on Sunday at home against the Kings, the Lakers will have a practice on Saturday and Redick confirmed it will be a practice that is not going to be comfortable following their biggest home loss of the season. 

"It's a matter of making the choice and far too often we don't have guys who want to make that choice." Redick said, "It's pretty consistent who those guys are.  Saturday's practice is going to be uncomfortable. I'm not doing another 53 games like this."