Road lies ahead for 0-4 team
At some point, the losing will stop for the Lakers, but when they will get their first victory of the season is anyone’s guess.
The challenge will only increase for the 0-4 Lakers because they play their next five games on the road and 16 of their next 20 away from Staples Center.
A loss at Brooklyn on Friday night to start the trip would match last season’s 0-5 start for the Lakers.
The worst start in franchise history was 0-7 in 1957, when the team was still in Minneapolis, clearly something the Lakers hope to avoid.
“It’s going to turn. I don’t know when, but it’s going to turn,” Coach Byron Scott said after practice Wednesday. “But as a coach, when we come in here in the morning, the first thing we want to do is be upbeat and positive and give those guys our positive vibes as well, because we know that we’ve been doing this a long time and it will turn.”
Scott said the mood of his team was OK during practice.
“They weren’t like real [upset] to the point to where guys were about to fight or anything,” he said. “But they weren’t happy, which is good.”
Trash talking
Late in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 120-109 loss to Denver on Tuesday night, Scott said a few of his players “had a little bit of an altercation” during a timeout on the bench.
Scott said it was a situation where some players were trying to hold each other accountable.
Brandon Bass took exception to Roy Hibbert saying things were “OK” during the latest defeat, The Times learned.
“We’ve got guys in here that care,” forward Julius Randle said. “It’s going to happen. It’s expected when you’re in a battle.”
Scott said that Kobe Bryant, long known for being hard on his teammates, wasn’t one of the players arguing on the bench, but the coach refused to divulge any names.
“Guys weren’t happy, so a few guys kind of discussed it in a very angry way,” Scott said. “Like I said, if they had just sat on the bench with a smile on their face, I’d be much more concerned. I loved it.” Still no defense
The Lakers are giving up 106.8 points a game, the most in the NBA. Opponents are shooting 48.6% against them, tied for the second-worst in the league.
Knowing his team is so porous on defense is frustrating for Scott because he preaches the importance of defense every day.
“You’ve got to be a great team defender more than an individual,” Scott said. “It was something we addressed this morning. We watched tape, we went through a lot of stuff this morning on the defensive end, as well as the offensive end. But obviously, the main objective and focus today was on that [defensive] end of the floor.”