“Embarrassing”: The Lakers lose their second place in a row by a total of 70 points

“Embarrassing”: The Lakers lose their second place in a row by a total of 70 points

The Lakers have lost four games by 25 or more points during their current 6-2 loss.

MIAMI (AP) – A 29-point loss at Minnesota on Monday. A 41-point loss at Miami on Wednesday.

When you add it all up, it’s the worst two-game stretch in Los Angeles Lakers history.

The Lakers lost to the Heat 134-93 on Wednesday, that loss coming two days later a 109-80 loss to the Timberwolves. The 70-point lead is a record low for the Lakers in two games; They were outscored by 67 points in two separate two-game periods during the 2016-17 season.

“It definitely sucks when you get cheered like that twice in a row.” Said Lakers star LeBron James. “Secure.”

The Lakers snapped a six-game winning streak last month, going 10-4. Since then, they are 2-6, with four of those losses coming by 25 or more points. Wednesday was the low point; Not only was the 41-point loss the worst of the season, but it was only the 11th time in the Lakers’ history – more than 6,800 games, including playoffs – that they lost by more than 40 points.

“I’m embarrassed” said Lakers coach JJ Redick. “It’s embarrassing for all of us.”

Redick is now 12-10 in his first year as coach, and this stretch has obviously been his toughest yet. In his postgame remarks on Wednesday, he wavered and pointed the finger at himself: “I’m going to take over all the possessions in the world. This is my team and I run it,” he said – saying the team was struggling with the simplest parts of the game plan.

“I don’t feel like we’re ‘together’ right now.” Redick said. “And we say that in the huddle. Doesn’t feel like that. Doesn’t feel like that. We are in a difficult phase and we are all trying to find it.”

Miami outscored the Lakers 72-15 from 3-point range – a 57-point difference that was the fourth-largest in NBA history.

“We’re having issues with base-level game plans on both sides right now,” Redick said. “It’s strange. It’s very strange.”

Anthony Davis scored a season-low 12 points for the Lakers on Monday. He was four points worse on 3-for-14 shooting on Wednesday.

“The boys are doing their part. I don’t do mine, it’s just hard on our team.” Davis said. “I just have to play better individually on both sides. I hold myself to higher standards and I didn’t do what I needed to do – especially offensively for our team.”

James said he agreed with everything Redick said, and Davis even repeated a word his coach used several times.

“Awkward,” Davis said.

James hopes the rest of the Lakers’ locker room takes on that level of responsibility. He emphasized that in 22 years in the league he has learned not to get too high when things are going well and not to get too low when things are going bad.

But back-to-back games like this represent something he’s never dealt with before. The Lakers play in Atlanta on Friday, play Portland on Sunday and then have a few days off – the NBA Cup quarterfinals on December 10th and 11th are a built-in break for the teams that didn’t make it to the knockout phase of this tournament – to practice and find solutions.

“If you screw up as an individual and try to rely on everyone else to take care of you, then I think it starts with the individual first.” James said. “We all have to take responsibility.”

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