Stephen Curry admitted the Golden State Warriors "laid an egg" in front of a national audience as it felt to the Los Angeles Lakers, but defended his struggling team-mate Klay Thompson.
The defending champions lost 127-101 to the Lakers on home court in one of the NBA's five marquee Christmas Day fixtures, despite LeBron James suffering a groin injury that caused him to exit the game during the third quarter.
Golden State shot just nine of 36 from three-point range, while Thompson registered just five points - the four-time All Star is shooting at just 33.7 per cent from deep this season, on track for the worst rate of his career.
"We were looking forward to this opportunity to get out there and play a lot better and just laid an egg, so you can feel terrible about it leaving the arena," Curry, who had 15 points in 37 minutes, said per ESPN .
"It'll get better. Obviously it's a tough night in front of a national stage, a lot of hype, playing the Lakers.
"You got to understand it's December, we're in a decent spot. We got to get better, though. We're not going to win a championship playing like we did.
"They [the Lakers] played like they had nothing to lose. They played like they had a free swing. Everybody who touched the ball was aggressive. They just had a different look in their eye and we weren't able to match that. They went out and won the game, that's basically it."
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Backing Thompson, Curry said the Warriors would "just stay in his ear" and felt improvements could be made across the board.
He added: "We all can play better. It's not just Klay, we all can play better.
"We all could be more decisive about what we're trying to do, how we're trying to get him shots. How we're trying to get the ball moving, all that type of stuff on offense."
And head coach Steve Kerr was of the same view, backing Thompson to overcome his struggles.
"I think it will turn around, I know it will turn around," he said. "This game is funny, life's funny. Things go on, things happen.
"You just have to find your way out of the woods. Our job as a staff is to help our team do that when we're in a rut, and it's to help individual players as well.
"As I said, I have no doubt that Klay will find his way, but he's in a rut right now. I think that's obvious. But it'll get better."
Andre Iguodala scored 23 points and Kevin Durant had 21 for the Warriors (23-12), while the Lakers (20-14) was led by 19 from Kyle Kuzma after James registered 17 points and 13 rebounds in an impressive 21 minutes before his injury.
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