The Lakers walked into halftime trailing the Suns by 10. By the time the final buzzer sounded, it was a 132-108 blowout loss - their second straight defeat and the first time this season they’ve dropped back-to-back games.
The turning point? According to head coach JJ Redick, it wasn’t complicated.
“They scored on the first 13 possessions of the second half,” Redick said postgame, not sugarcoating a thing.
That stretch wasn’t just a bad run - it was a defensive collapse that opened the floodgates for Phoenix. And even though the Lakers were missing Luka Doncic, their offense wasn’t the issue.
In fact, when Doncic sits, the Lakers still post a solid 116.2 offensive rating - good enough to rank 11th in the league. The problem, as Redick made crystal clear, is defense.
Or more specifically, the lack of it.
Whether Doncic is on the floor or not, the Lakers' defense has been a bottom-10 unit this season. That’s not just a stat - it’s a red flag. And Redick didn’t hold back when addressing what he sees as the root cause: effort.
“The theme with our team, these young teams that move, we just can’t move. It’s like we’re stuck in mud,” Redick said, painting a picture of a defense that’s reactive instead of proactive, slow instead of sharp.
When asked if the roster has enough players who are naturally strong defenders and consistently give full effort on that end, Redick didn’t hesitate.
“No.”
That’s not a knock on talent - it’s a challenge to commitment. Redick pointed to the daily decisions players make on the floor - the little things that stack up over 48 minutes.
“It comes down to just making the choice,” he said. “There are shortcuts you can take or you can do the hard thing and you can make the second effort or you can sprint back or you can’t.
It’s just a choice. And there’s a million choices in a game, and you’re very likely not going to make every choice correctly.
But can you make the vast majority of them correctly? It gives you a chance to win.”
That’s the message: defense isn’t just about schemes or matchups - it’s about will. About doing the hard things over and over again, even when you're tired, even when the game’s slipping away.
And now, the Lakers have to respond - quickly. Up next?
A Christmas Day matchup against the Rockets, another young team that thrives on movement and pace. It’s a game that will draw national attention thanks to stars like LeBron James and Kevin Durant, but the spotlight won’t hide the truth: if the Lakers don’t lock in defensively, they’re in for another long night.
The Rockets have had their own struggles on defense, which means this one could come down to which team decides to make those hard choices Redick talked about. The Lakers have the offensive firepower. But until the defense catches up - until the effort becomes consistent - they’ll keep finding themselves chasing games instead of controlling them.