The Lakers had their worst performance of the season on Saturday night, and head coach JJ Redick made his feelings clear in a blunt and brief postgame press conference. Following the team’s 122-102 blowout loss to the short-handed Atlanta Hawks, Redick was visibly frustrated and didn’t hide his disappointment.
“Not a lot to like tonight,” Redick said. “They [Hawks] brought the requisite level of effort and urgency and physicality… very disappointing. We’re gonna look at this, for sure.”
When asked if there was a specific point when he realized the starters weren’t going to flip the switch, Redick didn’t hesitate.
“I realized that in the first two minutes of the game,” he said. “I saw nothing.”
After those brief answers to the media, Redick abruptly ended the press conference, clearly frustrated over what had just transpired. So far this season, that’s the worst Lakers loss. Not only did it come against a Hawks team missing their best players, but it involved a complete lack of effort and passion from the team.
Mostly, Redick called out the starters in this game, and rightfully so. They committed 13 turnovers by themselves, playing carelessly and often without purpose on the court. It forced the coach to try unique lineups, which is why we saw 14 minutes for Maxi Kleber and 18 minutes for Bronny James.
In the end, nothing was enough to turn the tide of this game. Even without half their starters, the Hawks showed up to play and carried themselves with more pride than the Lakers did.
Whether it was the competition, LeBron’s absence, or something else entirely, the Lakers completely checked out of this game. An argument could be made that they were never checked in to begin with.
For Redick, the answer isn’t to shy away from these anomalies but to embrace them. If he can show his team exactly what went wrong, he can help prevent it in the future and ensure his players are ready to give their maximum energy every night.
Ultimately, games like this can happen to any team, but it’s how you respond that matters. At 7-3, the Lakers are still on track for an elite NBA season, and there’s reason to believe the best is yet to come.
As the Lakers get healthier, the roster will gain more experience together, and newcomers like Deandre Ayton will grow more comfortable with the offense.
Only time will tell which way things go from here, but JJ Redick is already doing everything he can to make sure his team is ready to fight hard every night. Tonight was the perfect example of what not to do, and Redick used it to make a statement to the entire locker room.
In the end, this was more than a typical loss. It was a wake-up call. For a team with championship goals, the Lakers cannot afford to go through the motions, especially against beatable opponents. With a tough road trip ahead, Redick will need his group locked in from the opening tip because nights like this will not cut it.
