The Los Angeles Lakers suffered an unexpected 118-104 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, a defeat that was made worse by the early exit of Anthony Davis due to an abdominal muscle strain. With Joel Embiid and Paul George already sidelined for the Sixers, this was a game the Lakers were expected to win. Instead, they were outplayed, out-hustled, and overwhelmed in key stretches.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick addressed the media following the game, reflecting on the team’s struggles, LeBron James’ performance, and the impact of fatigue.
Question: “JJ, anything further on Anthony Davis at this point?”
JJ Redick: “No”
Question: “You were up, I think, 20-17 when he left. What did you see from that point on in the game?”
JJ Redick: “The second quarter. I mean, look, three in four nights, back-to-back. I’m not sure where our sort of collective brains were at. I understand the physical fatigue. We were a step slow all night on Maxey, particularly in that quarter. Talked about having a compact shell.”
“We were hugged up on our guys, not just on Maxey, on everyone. We talked about the guys that were heavy shift guys and talked about the guys that were heavy shift guys that we could be in a help position off of and just, you know, just get to the basket. Get to the basket. Get to the basket. Get to the basket.:
“And then, I mean, frankly, you’re not going to win a game when somebody takes 19 more shots than you and gets saved more offensive rebounds. Like, we’re throwing the ball everywhere.”
“I think that is just, again, fatigue—mental and physical. Just bad decision-making and poor execution. Very unorganized throughout the game. Yeah, not our best.”
When asked about what went wrong following Davis’ injury, Redick pointed to a disastrous second quarter, where the Lakers allowed 48 points, leading to an insurmountable deficit. The Lakers were sloppy offensively, committing 22 turnovers, compared to just nine for Philadelphia. Redick was particularly frustrated with the unorganized play and mental lapses, which he attributed to fatigue.
Question: “You just alluded to it. You meant the three games in four nights. You know this does happen in the NBA, but how do you balance kind of frustration with understanding of that in these settings?”
JJ Redick: “You have to look at the big picture. The big picture is we’re going—we’re heading in the right direction and missing a bunch of key players, so…”
Question: “Prior to the time LeBron took some time away from the team, turnovers in high volume were kind of a recurring issue for him. Did you see anything tonight that was reminiscent of the same way he was getting those turnovers back then?”
JJ Redick: “Yeah, you know, certainly forced a couple. There was some Eric Gordon strip on him in the post, good individual defense. We actually—believe it or not—we actually defended well for the second half and the first eight minutes of the game.”
“It was that last four-minute stretch and the 12 minutes of the second quarter where we were just terrible defensively, and obviously, the turnovers hurt that. But when we actually found something good in the second half, we just, you know, didn’t execute. And two of those turnovers that he had were on those plays.”
“I’m, you know, I’m not sure why the ball was passed the way it was or why Max rolled the way he did. I mean, it was a very easy four-on-three to create. And, you know, again, I just—I attribute that to just, you know, a lot of fatigue.”
LeBron James finished with 31 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists, but also had 8 turnovers. Redick admitted that while LeBron had his moments, he also forced shots and made some questionable decisions. Redick emphasized that fatigue played a major role in LeBron’s poor execution in key moments.
Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey torched the Lakers with 43 points on 15-26 shooting, exposing their lack of defensive stability after Davis’ exit. The Lakers were outscored 48-25 in the second quarter, allowing Maxey to get easy looks in transition and half-court sets.
Question: “JJ, you went to Bronny in the first quarter instead of Shake or Cam. Why did you want to see a look at him there?”
JJ Redick: “Yeah, you know, just felt like on a back-to-back, just him giving us energy, I think, was the goal. You know, maybe put him in a tough spot—you know, flying up yesterday and, you know, nationally televised game and Philly, all that stuff.
It’s, you know, he didn’t play well, but he’s been playing great, you know, in the stay-ready games, and he’s been playing great in the G. So, I have confidence in him, but obviously, he didn’t provide that at a high level.”
One of the unexpected decisions in the game was Redick’s choice to play Bronny James early in the first quarter instead of using veterans Shake Milton or Cam Reddish. The decision didn’t work out as Bronny struggled, but Redick defended his move. Bronny failed to score, shooting 0-5 from the field and 0-3 from three-point range, finishing with three rebounds and one assist in 15 minutes.
Question: “The other thing too, I think I’m looking at right here—Dorian and Jaxson, I think, had like nine fouls in 36 minutes combined. How much of an issue was the fouling for you guys tonight?”
JJ Redick: “I mean, Dorian’s three of—I know three of his four were because we couldn’t contain the basketball and nobody was in a shift, and he just came over to try to save a basket. So, you know, he didn’t have a lot of juice tonight either. We were searching for juice. We couldn’t find it. Everything was dry.”
The Lakers also struggled with fouling, with Dorian Finney-Smith and Jaxson Hayes committing a combined nine fouls in 36 minutes. Redick acknowledged this was due to poor defensive positioning rather than just bad calls.
The Lakers’ next four games will be challenging, especially without Anthony Davis, who is set to be re-evaluated in a week. They will face the Wizards, Knicks, Clippers, and Warriors, a stretch that could determine their standing in the Western Conference.
But, Redick knows the team must clean up its execution if they want to avoid a major slide in the standings. The Lakers cannot afford another sloppy game like this if they want to remain in the top six of the West.
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