Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott laid into his team and remains unhappy with its effort following a 114-89 drubbing at the hands of the rival L.A. Clippers on Wednesday at the Staples Center.
The Lakers lost for the ninth time in their last 10 meetings with the Clippers and trailed by as much as 43 points during the thrashing.
"We were soft," Scott said of his team per ESPN. "[I have] a lot of respect for that team over there. They're a good team. I don't consider them a physical basketball team, but they came out and punched us, and we were soft, period."
Scott didn't stop there as he continued to lay into his team.
"I told them to man up, basically," the coach said.
Wednesday marked the fifth straight defeat for the Lakers at the hands of the Clippers and their second consecutive loss overall after a 98-94 setback at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.
Star shooting guard Kobe Bryant, who has taken games off and changed up his routine to stay fresh, notched just four points in the loss to the Clippers.
"He said the same thing I said. He just didn't use a toilet paper analogy," Bryant said about Scott in reference to him calling his teammates soft as Charmin earlier in the season.
Bryan conceded that the Clippers (24-12) are just a better team right now.
"They're just better," Bryant said. "They've just got better players. They just come at you in waves. They're just deeper. Got a lot of shooters on the floor, and we're short-handed."
The Lakers are 11-25 this season and sit in the basement of the Pacific Division and are 14th in the Western Conference.
Los Angeles has a chance to prove its toughness when the struggling Orlando Magic (13-25) come into the Staples Center on Friday amid a four-game losing streak.
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