The Los Angeles Lakers, losers of eight in a row, got a stern lecture Wednesday night from head coach Luke Walton.
The first-year coach urged his squad to be mentally tougher, a message that was well-received by the players.
The consensus in the locker room was that Luke Walton challenged the team to get back to who they are. Talked about not being mentally soft.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) December 15, 2016
Even Larry Nance Jr.’s massive throwdown couldn’t perk the Lakers up following a 107-97 road L to the Brooklyn Nets.
Per the LA Times:
“It’s true,” forward Larry Nance Jr. said. “We’ve been getting mentally outworked. … There’s been a lot of issues we’ve had. I think the resiliency we’re lacking right now is due to a weakness mentally.”
Said forward Julius Randle: “We do have to man up. Coach is exactly right, we’ve gotta get back to being us. Got too many guys pouting or whatever it may be, complaining, whatever it is. Things aren’t going our way, not making shots. We just gotta step up.”
Said shooting guard Nick Young: “I know I’m not soft. My teammates aren’t soft. So we gotta show it and prove ourselves. He believes too much in us for us to go out like this.”
