The Oklahoma City Thunder dropped the Los Angeles Lakers to 50-29 on the season with a dominant 123-87 win at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. Lakers head coach JJ Redick was quite clearly frustrated with some of his players on the night, and he called out Rui Hachimura in his postgame press conference.
“I just called the early timeout because Rui didn’t do his job, and so took him out of the game,” Redick said, via The Sporting Tribune. “We’ve got to find nine guys that are all-in on us fighting… whatever you got to do to go out and fight and be all in on the team. We’ll find the nine guys. It’s a great opportunity for us over the next three games to find those guys.”
Redick called for a timeout with 9:33 left in the first quarter and had some words for Hachimura as he walked to the bench. He then benched the forward in favor of rookie Adou Thiero.
With the Lakers being without Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Marcus Smart, and Jaxson Hayes against the Thunder, Redick wanted everyone available to put their best foot forward. Doncic and Reaves might not be back for the playoffs either, and he wants to find out who he can rely on.
Hachimura did not make a good impression at first, but Redick did put him back in the game with 3:24 left in the quarter. The 28-year-old would finish the night with a team-high 15 points (7-10 FG) to go with five rebounds, one assist, and one block.
While Hachimura got that second chance, Jarred Vanderbilt did not. Redick and Vanderbilt got into a heated exchange early in the second quarter, and he was benched for the rest of the game. He might have just removed himself from the running to be a part of that nine-man group.
Another Laker who didn’t cover himself in glory on the night was Deandre Ayton. Ayton had just three points (1-4 FG), three rebounds, and one block in 23 minutes. Redick had previously mentioned that he was going to ask his big man to do some different things with all these injuries, and was asked how he fared in that aspect here.
“He’s had trouble catching the ball,” Redick said. “So, we’ve ran a bunch of plays for him, he’s just had trouble catching the ball. I don’t know if that’s the passing or if it’s him trying to get into position. He just hasn’t been able to catch the ball.”
Catching the ball is something Ayton has struggled with at times in the past as well. He doesn’t have great hands and can often cough up the ball. That said, Doncic, Reaves, James, and Smart being out meant Ayton was playing alongside playmakers with whom he doesn’t necessarily have great chemistry. That could well have played a part here in his being so ineffective.
James and Smart will be back sooner rather than later, so you’d expect better from Ayton moving forward. We’ll see him in action next when the Lakers, who have now lost three in a row, take on the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET.
