The Los Angeles Lakers were hammered 132-108 by the Phoenix Suns at the Mortgage Matchup Center on Tuesday. This was the second time this season that the Suns had blown out the Lakers, having won 125-108 when the teams first met on Dec. 1.
The Suns played a lot harder in both of the wins, and Lakers head coach JJ Redick made a concerning comment about his team in his postgame press conference.
Reporter: “Is there a difference between a team where you have to remind to be physical, to play hard, to play with intention, versus guys maybe like Phoenix? They have certain players, like I think a [Jordan Goodwin], for instance, is like a guy who just that’s how he plays.”
JJ Redick: “Yeah, that’s accurate.”
Reporter: “Does this group have enough, as currently constructed, of guys who just like play that way?”
Redick: “No.”
That is damning. Redick did add that he thinks he can get enough consistent effort out of this group to get where they want to be defensively. He hasn’t been able to extract that this month, though.
The 19-9 Lakers have a 123.6 defensive rating in December, which ranks 28th in the NBA. Teams have had their way with them, and the Suns’ offense was on a roll here. The hosts went 50-85 (58.8%) from the field and 14-34 (41.2%) from beyond the arc. Allow a team to shoot that well, and you will get blown out.
“When your margin for error is not super high, you need to be very detailed to be able to execute, and when we do it, we can string together some good defensive possessions,” Redick said. “We didn’t do it at all tonight. And we tried zone, they got a layup and an open three. I don’t know why we were guarding Mark Williams at the three-point line when they got the three and didn’t get the ball iced in pick and roll.
“On the second possession of the zone, they got middle, didn’t go under, to get a layup,” Redick continued. “So, it’s like again, you don’t do the things we’re trying to do to sort of protect and keep the ball on the side, then you get exploited, and I think we’ve had some games where we did things well.
“But I think the theme with our team again is like these young teams that move, we just can’t move,” Redick added. “So it’s like we’re stuck in mud. Zone didn’t work. And then we went to a 15 in the second half. One through five switching, that didn’t work. So at that point, you’re out of options.”
All of this makes for grim reading. Redick also wasn’t interested in giving his players much of an excuse for their play on defense when it was brought up that the Lakers have had 17 different starting lineups in 28 games.
“I think there’s probably a touch of that, but we practice this stuff enough, we review this stuff enough, we show film on this stuff enough that,” Redick said. “… It comes down to just making the choice you know. It’s making the choice. There’s shortcuts you can take, or you can do the hard thing, and you can make the second effort, or you can’t, or you can sprint back, or you can’t.
“It’s just a choice, and there’s a million choices in a game,” Redick added. “And you’re very likely not going to make every choice correctly, but can you make the vast majority of them correctly, that gives you a chance to win?”
While this was all doom and gloom, Redick did also say that the Lakers will come with the right mentality for their Christmas Day game against the Houston Rockets at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.
Marcus Smart Was Scathing Of The Lakers’ Play
Redick was quite critical of the Lakers here, but guard Marcus Smart was even more scathing. Smart kept it real when talking about how they have been playing in his postgame press conference.
“We doing s***,” Smart said. “We’re being real s***ty right now, and it’s showing. But like I said, it’s our turn. Every team goes through it trying to figure it out. You just pray that it happens early and we can fix it before it’s too late. But yeah, there’s really no defense, no scheme we can do when we’re giving up offensive rebounds in crucial moments like we are, or guys are getting wherever they want on the court.
“And there’s no help, there’s no resistance, there’s no urgency,” Smart continued. “So, it’s tough. And JJ is right. There’s really nothing he can do. It’s on us. We appreciate the coaches for everything they do, but it’s on us… We gotta figure out.”
With all that has been said, you’d expect a strong response against the Rockets. If we see more of the same from the Lakers, then there would be serious cause for concern.
