Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick looked younger than his 40 years when he left Wednesday’s press conference.
He’s not too young or too young, he just doesn’t have the refinement that a man his age deserves—if not his NBA head coaching experience.
We all remember the scenario Mike Gundy once described to the 40-year-old, right?
The frustration undoubtedly got the better of Redick as he endured a 1-4 road trip. Asked repeatedly to break down why LeBron James, six months and six days a young coach, showed more effort than any Laker in the finals of the trip to Memphis, he simply added.
Here’s hoping that Redick listened to a good podcast or fell asleep on the plane home. In a roster that has its share of consistent players, the coach must set a strong example.
Memphis defeated Los Angeles 131-114 on Wednesday, and the second loss was to the Lakers on the road.
Center Anthony Davis, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, missed the game with a sore left heel, and the illness kept fellow starter Rui Hachimura out.
James seemed to make the best of the absence, scoring 39 points on 15-24 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and six assists.
“I thought LeBron was great tonight,” Redick said. “The biggest highlight … he played hard. Almost 40 years and he played very hard for our team. It says a lot about him.”
Redick showed the selection could go both ways when he talked about D’Angelo Russell, who logged just 6:06 of his season-low 22 minutes after the break. His 12 points weren’t efficient, Redick thought, as Russell went just 4-for-12 from the floor, including 2-for-9 from deep.
“The level of competition, the attention to detail, some of the things we talked about with him over the past few weeks,” Redick said. “And sometimes, he’s been very good about that and other times, he falls back on certain habits.”
The Lakers will return home on Friday night, starting a three-game homestand against a foe that has heard enough of the “E” word.
Try to think about the Philadelphia 76ers without seeing Joel Embiid, who is serving a three-game suspension for pushing Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Marcus Hayes.
Sidelined for the first season with a knee injury, Embiid made the exception in Hayes’ column about Embiid’s son and late brother criticizing the star center’s ability to stay in shape.
Redick immediately transferred the pressure to the top of the table when he left his press conference in Memphis. A follow-up question about how to deal with the effort and every Laker seems to be, but Jacob pulled his anger; it was already a popular topic in the post game.
“It comes back to choice,” Redick said earlier. “It’s something we’ve discussed as a team, and you choose every night how you play. It has nothing to do with making a gun. There has to be a group of people, seven to eight guys, that make those choices and we’re a really good basketball team.
“We have a couple, two or three, we’re not going to be a good basketball team that night. That’s just the truth.”
The Lakers make it to the finals more often than on road trips. Friday brings their next attempt at restoring the course.
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