Magic Johnson criticizes Lakers following 40-point loss

The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday. This in and of itself is not surprising, the Thunder are a much better team than this year's iteration of the Lakers. Still, the stats were dispiriting: the Lakers shot just 34.9% from the field and 28.6% from three-point range while allowing the Thunder to score 50 of their 118 points in the paint in a 40 point loss. The game had so little positives for the Lakers that Time Warner Cable Sportsnet chose the halftime show as their "Play of the Game."

There are plenty of words to throw around after such a disappointing loss. Lakers head coach Byron Scott called his team's effort "pathetic" and called his young players "scared" (which they denied). Rookie point guard D'Angelo Russell fired back, blaming the Lakers' offensive system for some of their struggles. Former Lakers point guard and Magic Johnson was so taken aback by the blowout he didn't have anything to say at all:

Laker Nation: After losing to the Thunder by 40pts yesterday, for the first time I'm at a loss for words. lol

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) December 21, 2015

It is interesting that Magic, an outspoken critic of both Lakers vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss and the team's last head coach, Mike D'Antoni would hold back on the team's current head coach, until you remember that the two are good friends dating back to their days as teammates with the "Showtime" Lakers.

Magic has been notably quiet about criticizing the team at all in fact, other than Jim Buss, during Scott's tenure as head coach, so it says something that the Lakers finally played bad enough that Johnson felt the need to speak out, even if he couldn't find the right words to say.