JJ Redick acknowledged that the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t play very well, but LeBron James and another important player got them the win.
The Los Angeles Lakers vanquished the Dallas Mavericks 107-99. Luka Doncic‘s first game against his former team resulted in a big win.
He notched his first triple-double for the Lakers tonight. It was something Doncic didn’t feel good doing for the Mavericks as Nico Harrison looked on.
Lakers fans, including Kendrick Perkins, were thrilled with the LeBron James-Luka Doncic connection. But not everyone was thrilled with the team’s outing.
Austin Reaves called out the Lakers for their poor performance. And JJ Redick did the same, crediting two stars for clutch plays down the stretch.
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Speaking after the Lakers’ win, JJ Redick addressed his team’s performance. He noted that for most of the game, the Lakers didn’t play well.
He pointed to the weak offensive performance against the Mavericks in particular. And on the offensive end, the Lakers’ reliance on corner threes that weren’t falling cost them.
“We didn’t do a good job of getting to our spacing throughout the game… Kept going to empty-side stuff, it wasn’t working.”
“We got to our proper matchups, created good offense at different points of the game. When we didn’t, we didn’t get good offense.”
Redick is a drill sergeant who demands the best from his team. So it would have been frustrating to see his players not convert what he felt were strong chances.
However, Redick did credit a few players, including LeBron James, for coming up huge during the final moments of the game.
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Redick acknowledged that it was LeBron James taking over in the final moments that changed the trajectory of the game.
He credited James for his offensive explosion, along with Dorian Finney-Smith for some big shots during the closing stretch that gave the Lakers the win.
“We don’t win the game if LeBron doesn’t take over. We don’t win the game if Do doesn’t make three massive plays. Another one that won’t show up in the box score…”
“He led the charge down the stretch of making winning basketball plays.”
LeBron was absolutely phenomenal during the game, with 27 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists. He led the game in scoring and turned the tide for the Lakers.
The Lakers now move to 35-21 for the season, staying put at fourth in the West. They are now just three games back from the second seed in the Western Conference.
