The immediate and more important result of Luka Dončić‘s storybook return — scoring 45 points and a 112-97 win over his old team Mavericks — to Dallas was a JJ Redick coaching career milestone.
Redick had just clinched an outright playoff berth for the Los Angeles Lakers in his first season, something unexpected at the start of the season and hadn’t been done by his predecessor Darvin Ham.
“I think it’s an accomplishment, truthfully it is if you look at the Western Conference this year,” Redick told reporters after the Lakers beat the Mavericks on Wednesday. “It’s an accomplishment to be in the playoffs, but we want the third seed. And we have two more cracks to guarantee that spot. For me as a coach, I don’t know. I’m thinking about the third seed, to be honest with you. It’s a cool moment to share when we found out with the staff, but we want more.”
Redick’s truthful reaction to such a major accomplishment says everything you need to know about him — he’s hungry and never content until he brings a championship, or should we dare say multiple championships to Los Angeles.
Clinching the third seed will give the Lakers a homecourt advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs and potentially avoid the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder until the Western Conference Finals should they advance deeper.
JJ Redick’s Problem-Solving Mentality
Redick prides himself as a problem solver. It’s how he approached his foray into coaching after his brief TV and podcasting career following 15 seasons playing in the NBA.
After he guided the Lakers to a 20-14 start, Redick crystalized his “problem-solving” mindset.
“I signed up for the hard stuff,” he said in January. “I didn’t sign up for the easy stuff. I enjoy problem solving. I enjoy the hell out of coaching. So it’s not one thing that led to another. It’s all part of the process and journey of trying to become a good basketball team and hopefully a great basketball team.”
Redick started the season with Anthony Davis and made him the center of the Lakers’ offense. Then came the seismic Davis-Dončić swap midseason that altered the Lakers and Mavericks’ franchise makeups.
Redick has to adjust again on the fly after losing the primary engine of both their offense and defense. Following two straight losses coming off the All-Star break in which Dončić has yet to find his footing in his new team, and still find his rhythm after a long layoff due to a calf injury, Redick once again referenced this as another problem to solve.
“I think sometimes when the group is trying to get acclimated with each other you can try to play the right way too much and turn down shots and then you can try to get yourself into the rhythm and not make the extra pass,” Redick explained at the time. “I think the flow of everything is going to improve. I’m excited because it’s a new problem to solve, we’ll work our buts off to try to solve the problem.”
Playoff Test Awaits
One by one, Redick has solved every problem thrown at him.
He figured out the Denver Nuggets riddle that Ham couldn’t solve. He blew out the No. 1 team Thunder, repeatedly beat their crosstown rivals Los Angeles Clippers, ground out victories against the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors and have the Memphis Grizzlies‘ numbers.
The Lakers have a 35-15 record against the Western Conference teams. Only the Thunder (37-13) have a better record than them in the West.
After a rough start to the Dončić era in L.A., Redick has found a way to optimize the overlapping talent of the new Lakers’ Big 3 of Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves.
A crucial meeting with them in Memphis reinforced Redick’s solution to the problem.
So after the Lakers rallied around Dončić to rise above the emotions of his return to Dallas for the first time since the trade, Redick and his coaching staff feels they are prepared to whatever test awaits in the playoffs.
“Greg [St. Jean] said to me, ‘This is going to be awesome for our group to go through this with him and for him to go through this with them,'” Redick told reporters about his conversation with one of the assistant coaches. “Does that mean we’re going to win an NBA championship or get to the conference finals? I don’t know. But it was an awesome moment for everyone.”
JJ Redick’s Truthful Reaction After Lakers Clinch Playoff Berth Is Telling