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Reality is starting to hit JJ Redick how tough coaching in the NBA as the Los Angeles Lakers absorbed their fourth loss — second straight — that capped a 1-4 road trip following a feel-good 3-0 start.
A frustrated Lakers rookie head coach dropped a three-word response to a reporter before walking out of his postgame presser.
“I just did,” Redick said after a reporter asked how he would address the team’s lack of defensive effort in their 131-114 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, November 6.
Redick storming out after complaining for eight minutes about the Lakers’ lack of fight and inconsistency save for LeBron James’ vintage performance encapsulated the team’s sorry state at the moment.
James’ 39 points, seven rebounds and six assists paced the Lakers in the loss that dropped them to a 4-4 record.
“I think LeBron was fantastic tonight,” Redick told reporters. “Biggest thing that stood out. … He played hard. Almost 40 years old and played the hardest on our team. It says a lot about him.”
Lakers’ Lack of Depth
Having to lean heavily and stretch out the oldest player on their roster said more about the team’s lack of depth, which is their biggest weakness.
The Lakers entered the game without two starters — Anthony Davis (heel) and Rui Hachimura (illness) — and left with a gut-wrenching loss and lost rookie Dalton Knecht to an apparent jaw injury along the way.
They have squandered roster spots to players such as Bronny James Jr. who is no yet ready to contribute instead of picking up a free agent who can be relied upon when injury bug hits the team.
Without Davis and Christian Wood still recovering from a knee surgery, Redick had no choice to but to rely on Jaxson Hayes and Christian Koloko, who is on a two-way contract, in their very thin frontcourt.
Hayes and Koloko combined for 10 points and 12 rebounds.
It was too much of an ask to fill Davis’ big shoes.
Davis is averaging a league-leading 32.6 points to go along with 11.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.
JJ Redick Rues Lack of Defensive Effort
As their depth already took a hit, the Lakers failed to compensate for it with their lackadaisical defense allowing the Grizzlies to shoot 51.6% from the field and knocked down 17-of-34 3-pointers.
“It goes back to choices,” Redick said. “It’s something we’ve discussed as a group and you have a choice every night for how you play, it has nothing to do with making shots.”
Despite a 50-37 rebounding disadvantage, the Lakers were still able to match the Grizzlies’ 93 field goal attempts. But the problem was they only converted 44.1% of their shots and made two less 3-pointers than the Grizzlies.
“There’s got to be a group of people, seven to eight guys, that make that choice and we’re a really good basketball team,” Redick continued. “We got a handful, two or three, we’re not going to be a good basketball team that night, that’s just the reality.”
“That’s my biggest takeaway, to be honest.”
D’Angelo Russell Benched
Already without two starters, starting point guard D’Angelo Russell did not step up.
Instead, he regressed and Redick benched him in final 18 minutes of the contest.
Redick called out Russell for his inconsistent effort.
“Just level of compete, attention to detail, some of the things we’ve talked with him about for a couple of weeks,” Redick told reporters when asked about Russell’s fourth-quarter benching. “And at times, he’s been really good with that stuff, and other times, it’s just reverting back to certain habits. It wasn’t like a punishment. I just felt like for us to have a chance to win this game, that was the route we wanted to take.”
Russell finished with only 12 points in 22 minutes as he shot poorly from the floor. He only made 4-of-12 shots, including 2-of-9 from the 3-point line.
Playing on a contract year, Russell has an underwhelming start to the season.
The Lakers starting point guard just averaging 12.0 points on 37.5% overall shooting and 29.5% from the 3-point line through the Lakers’ first eight games.
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