Kuzma embarrassed by Lakers' selfishness, effort level in loss to Thunder
The Los Angeles Lakers showed little fight in Wednesday's 133-96 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Kyle Kuzma called the loss - L.A.'s eighth in a row - embarrassing because his team "flat-out" rolled over.
"We gave up," the rookie power forward said postgame, as quoted by ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk.
"You could see, they got basket after basket, we had no resistance on them on the defensive end and offensive end. When things got tough, we tried to do it individually, and you can't do that in this league.
"They took a little lead, and we just went to being selfish on the floor. We didn't compete on defense. They killed us. ... To lose by (nearly) 40, it is pretty embarrassing to be out there."
After a competitive start to the campaign, Los Angeles has been on a downward spiral for the past month. The Lakers have been decimated by injuries to key contributors like Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, and Brook Lopez, while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has been limited to games within the state of California due to a legal issue.
To add insult to literal injury, the club's had one of the league's toughest schedules. The Lakers played nine of their last 11 games against teams currently in playoff position. Altogether, Luke Walton's men went from just two games under .500 on Nov. 21 to a whopping 15 now.
The skid has led to players pouting on the bench and the Lakers holding a team meeting last week to address their struggles. Veteran center Andrew Bogut admitted to frustration in the locker room and suggested players were distracted by the "salary-cap situation," given the organization's not-so-secret plot to pursue two star free agents next offseason.
Kuzma had a team-high 18 points and two blocks in the most recent loss, but also turned the ball over four times and was a team-worst minus-26 in 28 minutes. He vowed to help get his squad back on track.
Were gonna figure this out promise that
— kuz (@kylekuzma) January 4, 2018
The Lakers next face fellow bottom-dwellers the Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks, and Sacramento Kings.