JJ Redick spoke after the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 119-131 loss to the Utah Jazz about Dalton Knecht‘s recent body language. The previous game against the Jazz saw Knecht being in quite a bad mood on the bench, making it look like he didn’t want to be there. However, JJ Redick was impressed with his spirit tonight but doesn’t want to talk about the situation further.
Reporter: “What did you make of Dalton Knecht’s night tonight? Just from a body language standpoint, it didn’t seem like maybe he was totally connected. Did you see anything in terms of his spirit tonight?”
JJ Redick: “I thought his spirit was good. I thought he played well. We’re not going to talk about it anymore. We’ve talked about it. He’s in a good spot. We’re good.”
Redick also spoke about some other matters in his press conference, such as the loss against the Jazz, the level his players have performed at over the last few weeks, and what he expects from his players heading into the All-Star break. Redick has confidence that this team can compete at the highest level when at their healthiest.
Reporter: “JJ, clearly not the level you’ve seen from your team for the last couple of weeks. Last game before the break, how much of that human nature element do you think about?”
JJ Redick: “I don’t really buy that. Our guys, the spirit, and all that stuff have been great. I thought that we were locked in. I think the more human nature element is playing the same team twice in a row and feeling like it might be easy because we beat them and were 3-0 against them.”
“I think our preparation was there. Sometimes, you just momentarily can lose sight of the things you require to earn a victory. I thought defensively, to start the game, Markkanen could just move wherever he wanted to move.”
“We weren’t physical, we didn’t talk. Never really got to a place in the game where we were talking and executing… Give a team confidence, you let them be comfortable and this is what happens. This is the NBA.”
Reporter: “Do you have anything more on Jaxson Hayes? He left the game with a facial contusion.”
JJ Redick: “I don’t have anything else. Facial contusion is what we have right now.”
Reporter: “Any larger thoughts as you head into the All-Star break about how the team is moving?”
JJ Redick: “I think the biggest thing is just getting all our key guys healthy. LeBron has put in a lot. AR has put in a lot. Those guys need breaks. Luka continuing to build towards being able to play his normal minutes and being in game shape. The reality is, he took six weeks off and is working his way back still. Getting Vando and Gabe back. When our group is healthy, we can compete at a very high level.”
Reporter: “Alex Len debuted, probably didn’t envision starting him for a half. How do you think it went under the circumstances?”
JJ Redick: “I thought he was fine. It feels like there has been a lot of it this year. We’ve had to put guys in tough spots. We’ve had to put our two-way guys in tough spots, and we had to put Alex in a tough spot. He was fine.”
Reporter: “You mentioned the break needed for Austin and LeBron. Personally, for you, a lot has happened in the last 35 days or so. Are you going to be able to unplug during this knowing your mindset? Would you personally benefit from a reset over the next few days?”
JJ Redick: “I do think I would benefit from that… My goal for the All-Star break is to finalize my insurance claims and find an apartment to live in. That’s what I’m hoping for, to get out of that hotel. That would be nice… If you need something over the weekend, I’ll be back in the office on Monday. I’m going to go to the office tomorrow too, but for a different reason… I’ll be with my family, it’ll be nice.”
JJ Redick was clearly not thrilled with the way the Los Angeles Lakers performed last night. However, he did acknowledge that a degree of their underperforming nature came from a place of overconfidence considering how well the Lakers played against the Jazz.
While this loss will definitely be frustrating, he and the Lakers get the chance to decompress from the All-Star break. When they return, they face a grueling schedule as they close out the season. The Lakers have a realistic chance of winning 50 games for the first time since the 2019-20 NBA season. But they will have to work incredibly hard to make sure they close out the season with a strong run.
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