Los Angeles Lakers effort vs Los Angeles Clippers disappoints Luke Walton

The Los Angeles Lakers losing ways continued on Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers hammered the Lakers at the STAPLES Center, 121-106. The Clippers have dominated the Lakers in recent history and it continued Friday.

The Lakers were blitzed right from the beginning. The Lakers fell behind 22-5 to start the game less than seven minutes into the game.

The early lead was all the Clippers needed. They cruised throughout the remainder of the game, as the Lakers never really put much pressure on the Clippers.

It was a disappointing effort from the Lakers, who are struggling with injuries and constant change. With Brook Lopez and Lonzo Ball out of the lineup, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope unable to play outside the state of California as he serves a jail statement, the Lakers cohesion and chemistry has been torpedoed.

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That was evident against the Clippers on Friday. The starting lineup came out with no energy, as the effort disappointed head coach Luke Walton and Brandon Ingram agreed with him.

"“I think it’s going to be hard to judge the first half because I just don’t think we were ready for whatever reason to engage in the fight,” Walton said, an assertion forward Brandon Ingram agreed with.“Absolutely. They hit us in the mouth in the first five minutes of the basketball game,” Ingram said."

That kind of effort any night is embarrassing. Against a rival such as the Clippers, it is even worse as you would expect your players to get up for a game like that.

Walton tried out a new starting lineup against the Clippers. With multiple starters sidelined, Walton decided to go with Josh Hart, Caldwell-Pope, Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Julius Randle.

The start was nothing to write home about. However, Walton was happy with the effort that was put forth in the second half of the game.

"“The second half will be much more telling because at least we were playing with the effort that we need to play with as a group,” Walton said, noting that finding groups that can play with that effort will be the only way the Lakers can get back to playing competitive basketball.“I think we had some nice individual moments from different people tonight but we are not a team that’s going to win by individuals being good, we have to be a team that wins by our team doing it together. We had nice moments of that too, but not nearly enough.”"

We have seen flashes of star power and the ability to take over games this season. Ingram has showcased that skill most of all. However, it has not come with any consistency as the young Lakers still have a long way to go before reaching their potential.

Judging the current group of Lakers is a difficult task. There are a lot of injuries, and there is no guarantee about who will be on the roster next season outside of a few select players.

Next: Lakers vs Clippers: 3 Takeaways From The Loss

Expect the struggles to continue until Walton has his players healthy and a rotation can be set again.