The Los Angeles Lakers' season found a new low on Sunday, with a 123-95 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans being met by a chorus of boos from the Crypto.com Arena crowd throughout much of the night.
After his team lost for the ninth time in its past 12 games, the L.A. native was asked if he would take the reception from Lakers fans with him.
He asked if it should be taken home. For what? S---. Do you want to take it home? I have three kids at my house. I don't know why I would take it home. They can take their ass home if they boo. I am not worried about that. It doesn't bother me at all.
I can only answer if I take them home. I don't think it's something we have to deal with for our team. And kind of move forward.
The Lakers lost to the 11th ranked Pelicans and now have to play two more games to get into the play-in tournament.
The path only gets more dangerous from here. The Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors are three teams above L.A. and will play each other this week.
We have a tough stretch with Dallas, the Clippers, and Golden State, so it doesn't get easier for us.
The loss to New Orleans was particularly discouraging, as the Lakers had 23 as a team, leading to 25 points for the Saints.
The Lakers trailed by as many as 32 at one point in the third quarter, when the boos began to come from the stands.
We are not shooting the ball well from the perimeter, the paint is blocked, and we are trying to force inside with the pass, and it is leading to a lot of turnovers. We weren't very good on either end tonight.
James offered a far more meager benchmark, when he said that L.A. was primed to run off a 10- or 12-game winning streak at any moment.
It all starts with a win. He said that it starts with getting off of the slide and getting a win. It always starts with how you can get into a game-by-game situation.
When asked how to move forward from the loss, Vogel said the Lakers should simply flush it and turn the page, but Westbrook pointed to a discouraging trend that doesn't seem so simple to shake.
The teams are coming in and playing harder, and I believe that is their scouting report. It will happen to us until we determine and have the determination that we are not going to allow it.
While acknowledging that the team is on the verge of collapse, Howard offered an optimistic take, while acknowledging that the team is in a bad spot.
Howard said it was easy to give up, throw in the towel and say negative things. We have to stay positive. We can't quit on each other in defeat. I know it has been a rough season, but I think it would be bad.
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