Lakers’ Byron Scott questions effort following 33-point loss to Utah

Lakers coach Byron Scott questioned the team's effort following a 119-85 loss on Thursday to the Utah Jazz in Anaheim. Micah Escamilla/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)"

Lakers coach Byron Scott questioned the team’s effort following a 119-85 loss on Thursday to the Utah Jazz in Anaheim. Micah Escamilla/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)”

ANAHEIM — The message seemed as stern as Byron Scott’s serious look on his face once he looked into the cameras.

It seemed bad enough the Lakers lost 119-86 on Thursday to the Utah Jazz at Anaheim’s Honda Center. Only 8,931 attended the game, likely in part because the Lakers have offered listless play for quite some time. But this result happened a mere four days after losing by 41 points to Golden State, the 74-point combined differential vastly exceeding their previous exhibition low of 47 points in consecutive losses in 2012.

So even with the Lakers nursing six injuries to their roster, Scott informed his team that he may dwindle the size even more.

“I told them I’m going to find seven or eight guys,” Scott said. “That’s all I need to play the way we need to play and play hard every single night and compete. That’s all I need.”

Scott first conveyed that message to his players at halftime. He expressed that message again afterwards. And the reason for such repetitiveness seemed pretty obvious.

Outside of Kobe Bryant posting 27 points and Carlos Boozer adding 17, the Lakers provided very little offensively. They failed to make a single 3-pointer on five attempts, marking 11 consecutive quarters they have not made a basket from beyond the arc.

The images looked even more dreadful to watch on defense. This marked the third consecutive game the Lakers conceded at least 100 points to an opponent. They could not hide behind the excuse of Golden State’s prolific shooting as they could in the previous two games. Instead, Utah looked just as effective in another way, bulldozing the Lakers inside in every way possible. The Jazz scored 48 points in the paint. Utah earned 39 free throw attempts and made 27 of them. The Lakers lost the rebounding battle, 50-41.

For a team that has spent most of preseason stressing defense, what happened to the Lakers?

“Lack of communication. That’s on our bigs,” Scott said. “They have to do a better job of letting the guards know those screens were coming. We have to do a better job of keeping them on that one side. We talked about that all day long. That’s on our bigs mostly. They have to do a much better job on calling our our coverages earlier and so our guards can get into it and not allow those guys to get into the middle of the paint.”

Scott then narrowed his focus on Lakers rookie forward Julius Randle, who posted four points on 2-of-5 shooting and one rebound in 10 minutes before sitting out the second half. It did not help that Randle had blisters on the bottom of his feet. But even with the Lakers medically clearing Randle for the second half, Scott still sat him so he could observe from the sideline.

“I still don’t think the last couple of games he could play as hard as he could play,” Scott said of Randle. “It’s a much faster game. He has to learn how to let the game slow down. But the biggest thing is the effort and physical part of it and playing hard every single time he’s out there. I know he’s thinking a lot right now. There’s a lot to think about on both ends of the floor. I know it might take some time but I expect him to get it.”

So far, it does not seem as if the Lakers have gotten it.

“All the coach can do is prepare us and they’ve been doing their job. As players we have to hold ourselves accountable,” said Lakers guard Ronnie Price. “If we played a little bit harder and smarter by sticking to our principles and executing, I don’t think coach would get upset. If we got beat and we were doing everything that we were supposed to do with a sense of urgency, I don’t think he would be upset.”

Still, Bryant exuded a sense of calmness and patience, pointing out the Lakers’ various injuries. Lakers guard Steve Nash could not play despite participating in pre-game warmups because of his continuous back issues that kept him sidelined for the past three practices. Lakers guard Jeremy Lin has remained limited all week with a sprained left ankle. Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson has stayed out the past week because of a strained left calf muscle. Lakers forwards Nick Young (right thumb), Ryan Kelly (strained left hamstring) and Xavier Henry (back spasms) have not played any preseason games. Bryant also coughed up the Lakers’ poor play toward the team’s “desire to do well” negated by unnamed teammates feeling nervous.

“Hopefully we can get guys back,” Bryant said. “It’s tough to assess or evaluate anything until we get the guys out on the floor and have a regular season rotation.”

Scott conceded as much. Hence, why he remains insistent these issues will not bleed over into the regular season in two weeks. But as he stood on the Lakers’ sideline seeing lapse after lapse unfold, Scott lashed out with a biting tongue.

“Their job is to come in, bring energy, play solid defense and run the show on the offensive end,” Scott said. “They didn’t do that.”


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