Lakers head coach Byron Scott ripped his team for yet another lackluster defensive effort Wednesday, telling ESPN that he’s not yet sure if their issues with stopping teams can even be repaired.
“To be honest with you, most of the time, the things that we want to do, they haven’t done,” Scott said after his team’s 109-102 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, during which the Lakers trailed by as many as 23 points.
“And I don’t know if it’s because they’re incapable of doing it or not.”
After the Lakers dropped to 1-7 this season, Scott was furious about the Pelicans scoring 60 points in the paint.
“They got pretty much anything they wanted in the paint with no resistance whatsoever,” Scott said. “It was just terrible. That was probably the worst defense that we’ve played from the preseason all the way to this particular point.”
“We’re not even close to our expectations, or at least mine,” Scott said. “Like I said, we’ve just got to keep working. I know our guys are thinking a lot. We’ve got to get out of that pattern. But the effort has to be there and we have to play with a little more grit. That’s the bottom line.”