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NBA New Year’s resolutions<\/p>\n
We’re handing out New Year’s resolutions for teams and players across the NBA.<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> hung around with the Detroit Pistons<\/a> through most of three quarters Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena, but an ugly fourth quarter in which they were outscored by 14 points killed what had been a closely contested matchup. One that spiraled into a 128-106 blowout loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n The fourth quarter seemed to be an accumulation of frustration for the Lakers over turnovers, officiating and their recent stretch of injuries as LA has now lost four out of its last five games.<\/p>\n Lakers let mistakes, Pistons’ physicality get to them<\/p>\n \u201cI think there’s probably a level of frustration when you’re turning the ball over and you’re feeling like you’re getting fouled,\u201d Redick told reporters. \u201cThere’s, frustration there, for sure, but I mean, again, I said it in here. We said it this morning: they’re going to foul every possession. It’s just, you got to play through it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Lakers turned the ball over 21 times and while the Pistons themselves had 20 turnovers on the night, they capitalized on the Lakers\u2019 mistakes with 31 points off turnovers compared to just 19 from LA.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got to definitely match their physicality. That\u2019s the whole point,\u201d said Luka Doncic<\/a>, who led the game in scoring and assists with 30 and 11, but also led with eight turnovers. \u201cWe got to match how they play. You seen the refs let it go, so we should\u2019ve played with more physicality for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Lakers still searching for identity amid injuries<\/p>\n Postgame, Redick gave credit to the Pistons\u2019 size and athleticism, telling reporters that level of physicality \u201cis in their DNA.\u201d As for the Lakers, he\u2019s still trying to figure out what their identity actually is as the calendar flips to 2026.<\/p>\n Recalling a conversation he had with Phil Jackson at the beginning of last season, Redick recalled Jackson saying that he knew who his team was by Thanksgiving. That\u2019s harder to do when the team is as plagued by injuries as this year\u2019s Lakers have been.<\/p>\n LeBron James<\/a>\u2019 season debut was delayed until Nov. 18 due to sciatica nerve pain. Currently, the Lakers are down Rui Hachimura (calf), Gabe Vincent (back), and Austin Reaves (calf). The absence of Reaves, who is averaging a career-high 26.6 points, 6.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game, has been especially felt.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t had a full team all year. I don\u2019t know, maybe one game we\u2019ve had a full roster, maybe even not,\u201d James told reporters. \u201cWe got some very important guys out right now, and obviously I started the year being out. Having our all-star two guard (Reaves) out and Rui\u2019s now out, Gabe\u2019s been out for a minute, Jaxson (Hayes) just came back. There\u2019s been a lot of in and out, so that\u2019s been very hard to just get a rhythm and chemistry on the floor with guys that you know you\u2019re gonna play with every night. \u2026 But it\u2019s still no excuse.<\/p>\n “We still need to go out and execute, and I think we did that tonight.\u00a0… The better team won.\u201d<\/p>\n LeBron James speaks on how cascading injuries to the roster has delayed the Lakers\u2019 ability to fortify a true identity this season – and emphasized how LAL must continue to have a next man up mentality in the interim. pic.twitter.com\/eWASedJXNL<\/a><\/p>\n