Luka Doncic says Lakers can’t afford to get satisfied after going 3-7 in last 10 matches

Los Angeles Lakers’ talisman Luka Doncic reckons the Lakers can’t afford to get satisfied at this crucial junction of the league. JJ Redick’s team has gone 3-7 in the last 10 games and suffered a 118-106 loss against Orlando Magic on Monday.

Doncic admitted he and LeBron James would need to take more onus on their shoulders. The Slovenian admitted he was a bit low on energy in the second half against the Magic.

“I think we just got a little bit satisfied,” Doncic said. “We can’t afford that right now.”

“I think me and Bron, think we should be the guys to do that,” Doncic said. “That’s on me. Obviously, I’ve got to do better, I’ve got to talk more. I talked in the first half, then just kind of [let my] voice down and I shouldn’t do that.”

With only 11 regular games remaining, the Lakers must quickly pull up their socks to get back the winning impetus. The Lakers suffered a 146-115 blowout loss against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.

While Chicago outscored them 39-27 in the third quarter, Orlando outscored them 34-18.

Lakers forward Dorian Finney-Smith said Los Angeles let its offensive struggles in the third dictate its defense. “We let our offense mess with our defensive energy,” he said.

Doncic scored 21 points in the first two quarters and only 11 after halftime whereas James had 24 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds.

“We’re going through it a little bit,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said after the game.

Finney-Smith added that they would look to use this tough phase as a learning curve.

“We need the adversity,” Finney-Smith said. “Especially being a new team, we get to learn a lot about each other during tough times. You usually don’t see things when you’re winning. So we got the chance to grow. We’re going to use this opportunity to grow.”

The Lakers will next take on the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.