I question some of this . . they're young but should know and be comfortable with their roles by now. As should Luke. Again, games like these last two give fuel to Magic and Rob's potential search for a pivotal superstar trade that could cost us a part of our young core. And I wouldn't be surprised if even Luke's seat gets hot by next season if we're underachieving.
"They (LeBron, Rajon and JaVale) were trying to talk to us in the best way they could, but it's not the same as them being out there," Lonzo Ball said. "So we just got to step up and accept the roles that we're coming into right now."
The roles of Ball, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma, in particular, have increased since James' groin strain and Rondo's second hand surgery of the season sidelined the Lakers' most ball-dominant players.
Kuzma led the Lakers with 24 points against the Clippers but went 0-for-7 from 3 and had four turnovers.
Ball, who had 20 points in the Thursday's loss at the Sacramento Kings, had 19 on Friday, giving him his highest-scoring two-game stretch of the season. However, he also had four turnovers.
Ingram scored 17, but he went 6-for-12 from the free throw line a night after he spoiled a 22-point effort against the Kings by also coughing up five turnovers.
All three agreed the finger-pointing, or "splintering," as Walton termed it, has to stop.
"We can't be a front-running team," Kuzma said. "When things are up, we can't just all be happy, and then when things are down, we're just separate from each other. So the biggest thing for us is just to always be together. Every team has rough patches in a season. And we've been down bodies all year, different lineups. And we can't let those things affect us. It's all about us sticking together and just keeping it like a fist."
Kuzma clasped his hand as he finished his answer to show the tightness he expected from the group.
"I mean, guys were getting frustrated," Ball added. "Anytime a team goes on a 22-0 run, it's not going to be all fine and dandy. We got to regroup. We can't argue with each other. We're on the same team."
Ingram offered an alternative perspective, however, rationalizing that they wouldn't be fighting if they weren't all after the same thing.
"It just shows a lot about how much our players care about each other, care about the team," he said. "When the other guys are getting on each other and coming into the huddle trying to get on each other, it just shows how much they care about the basketball game and how much they want to win."
Walton said that Clippers coach Doc Rivers' lineup change in the third quarter to a team featuring Lou Williams (36 points) as the go-to scorer surrounded by four rugged defenders in Montrezl Harrell, Tyrone Wallace, Sindarius Thornwell and Patrick Beverley changed the complexion of the game."