Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick was embarrassed by his team’s performance in their blowout defeat to the Miami Heat, and conceded he felt there is a lack of unity on the court at present.

The Lakers were beaten by a whopping 41 points by the Heat, who themselves have just a mediocre record so far this season with the Los Angeles defense unable to stop Miami’s perimeter shooting – losing their third game in the last four and six of their last eight.

But it had been the manner of the loss to the Heat that had Redick open up on his frustrations, pointing the finger at every level of the organization while seemingly lamenting his players for not responding to coaching.

Redick said: “There has to be some ownership on the court, and I’ll take all the ownership in the world. This is my team and I lead it and I’m embarrassed. But I can’t physically get us organized. I can’t physically be into the basketball. I can’t physically talk and call out switches and physically call out coverages. And by the way, I’m not blaming players. It’s not. I own this, but I’m going to need some ownership on the court as well. There’s not a sense from me that we’re together right now.”

He added: “You can splinter, and it’s easy to not want the ownership, particularly when it’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed. We’re all embarrassed. It’s not a game that I thought we had the right fight, the right professionalism. We’re having trouble right now on both ends with, like, base-level game-plan stuff. It’s odd. It’s very odd.”

LeBron James has not had the start to the season he’d have liked

Now in his 22nd season in the NBA, LeBron James is appearing to show signs of decline with his struggles shooting the ball and defensive lapses – clearly losing a step of his athleticism – to be expected with him set to turn 40 years old in just a few weeks.

James had missed 20-straight three-point attempts heading into the game against the Heat, with him being disappointed in his own performances this season under Redick – who he head co-hosted a podcast with before the latter joined as head coach.

After the loss to his former team in Miami, James said: “I agree with everything JJ said. Whatever he said, I agree 100 percent, 1,000 percent… It’s not on the coaches. It’s definitely on us, for sure.”

The Lakers currently sit in 9th in the Western Conference and look to be in a fight to make the playoffs once again this season.