The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t look competitive in their worst loss of the season so far, failing to compete against the Phoenix Suns in a 100-127 defeat. It was a calamitous night on both ends for the Lakers, who couldn’t score freely nor stop the Suns from scoring freely either.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick opened up on his team’s performance after the game, reflecting on what went wrong and how the team wasn’t defensively equipped to stop the Suns tonight.
“Really like how we played offensively in the first half. Defensively, we were physical. Had a couple, I would call them game plan mistakes. I thought we had a better first half than the score. We just kind of lost it offensively and we weren’t getting stops on top of that.”
“You get down and there’s certainly can be some momentum and some energy but I thought our guys kept playing. I don’t know what we were, 7-for-26 in the second half from 3. I thought we got some good looks but sometimes the missed shots can sort of have an effect, especially when you’re not getting stops on the other end.”
“Look, we may have to just look at some things defensively, particularly against really good offensive teams about what our overall sort of strategies are. They kind of got whatever they wanted. Their main players got to their spots and hit tough 2s, which they do. And they still took 42 3s… But our guys kept playing. Our guys kept playing, it was just a tough night.”
He specifically mentioned that the Lakers don’t have the personnel required to consistently stop great offensive players.
“I would say, if you think about being disruptive, I think it starts there. Some of it is personnel-based, we don’t necessarily have a ton of guys that can go and pick up full court. But teams are trying to disrupt what we do, just like we’re trying to disrupt what other teams are doing. And whether that’s with screening action of DHOs, whatever it may be, we need to be better there.”
“We need to be better at executing game plans, but look, sometimes against a team like this or a player like Jokic, you can game plan all you want, but great players are gonna be great sometimes. Their three guys were great tonight and Jokic was great the other night.”
The Lakers simply couldn’t match up with the Suns on the night, being led by Anthony Davis‘ 25 points (10-19 FG) and 15 rebounds. LeBron James put up 18 points (7-16 FG), eight rebounds, and 10 assists while Austin Reaves contributed 15 points (6-12 FG). D’Angelo Russell had 16 points (5-13 FG) off the bench.
Devin Booker scored 26 points (10-17 FG) and dished out 10 assists while Bradley Beal had 23 points (10-15 FG) while Kevin Durant scored 23 points (9-17 FG) as well, also grabbing six rebounds.
Austin Reaves had made a similar complaint about the Lakers after their loss to the Nuggets, lambasting the team’s poor defensive personnel. This is an issue that can only be addressed by Rob Pelinka making smart trades to add the quality players the Lakers need to have a shot at contention.
Just switching coaches for what looks to be a stagnant and average roster won’t be enough for an improvement. If the roster isn’t upgraded this season, the Lakers will fight their way into the Playoffs for a first-round exit as their best-case scenario once again.
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