Jamal Crawford Called Out The Lakers After Their Loss To The Pelicans: ‘Do They Care?’

The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night, 114-111. With the loss, L.A. fell a game behind the San Antonio Spurs in the race for the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament, and because the Spurs hold the tiebreaker over the Lakers, the team needs to make up a two-game gap in their final five games of the year or else their offseason will begin way sooner than anyone anticipated.

The game was broadcast on NBA TV, and in the aftermath, Jamal Crawford tore into Los Angeles for what he perceived as a lack of heart with their backs against the wall.

“The scary thing for me is, we don’t know who the Lakers are, exactly,” Crawford said at the 1:12 mark of the above video. “But I’m not sure that they know who they are. We got five games left, and they’re still searching on ‘where do we go late, what are we looking for?’ And we all talk about it and it’s a topic of discussion around the world — the Lakers got five games until the play-in. Do they care? Because their actions don’t support that they care about making this play-in.”

After Ro Parrish pointed out that the Lakers have barely had their superstar core of Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Russell Westbrook together — and when they have, they’re only a game over .500 — Crawford again spoke about whether or not the team is properly motivated.

“That’s the real question, do they really care?” Crawford asked. “Because like we said, the urgency, diving on the floor, if you really want this to continue on, if you really want your playoff lives to be extended and have a shot at it, every play has to play like that. New Orleans had the urgency, so I figured, even going into it, they were generating all the energy, they were like, ‘you know what, we’re playing for something.’ I didn’t get that from L.A.”

It was an important win for the Pelicans, as they entered the night only two games up on the Spurs and San Antonio won on Friday. But regardless, the Lakers are running out of time and are seeing the hill they have to climb become more and more insurmountable, and in Crawford’s eyes, they’re not carrying themselves with the sense of urgency that requires.