JJ Redick spoke after the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 100-97 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. He noted that the team looked lethargic on the court, with their offense for 90% of the game being very poor. However, Redick seemed to understand that this was a result of the All-Star break disrupting their flow, and still credited his players for playing hard and with the right spirit, even in a difficult game.
“I don’t think it was just Austin [Reaves]. That certainly hurt us, not having him out there. But overall, we played 39-44 minutes of pretty poor offense. Some of that is to be expected. Some of it was sloppiness, some of it was poor spacing, some of it was poor execution.”
“The reason I am not going to read too much into that is because I think our guys competed tonight, and they played extremely hard. I also think Charlotte played very sloppy. That’s not to make an excuse, that’s just the reality of having six days off as a group and trying to integrate new pieces. That happens sometimes…”
“I thought our effort and competitive spirit were good enough to win. It’s just that we were really poor offensively for 90% of the game.”
The Lakers did not have a good night on the offensive end, converting just 41.1% of their shots from the field (37-90), 29.4% of their shots from beyond the arc (15-51), and 66.7% of their free throws (8-12). On top of that, they turned the ball over 18 times during the game, which didn’t help matters either.
He is right, however, in saying that the Hornets also played very sloppily. In contrast to the Lakers, the Hornets converted 36.3% of their shots from the field (33-91), 34.0% of their shots from deep, and turned the ball over 17 times, just one less than the Lakers. But it was their efficiency and frequency at the free-throw line, converting 94.1% of their free-throw attempts (16-17), which allowed them to win the game.
Growing Pains For New-Look Lakers
As Redick mentioned, one of the reasons the Lakers struggled tonight was the fact that they are still trying to incorporate Luka Doncic into the team. Redick didn’t mention Luka by name, but given that he is the only new addition receiving big minutes on the court, he is the obvious answer here.
However, that was not Redick blaming Doncic. While Luka did perform poorly, as fans saw in a clip highlighting how the Hornets exploited his poor defense, his rough offensive numbers are still excusable. Doncic himself admitted after the game that he needs more time to adjust and settle into the Lakers offense.
For his part, Redick has been nothing but positive about Luka’s future with the team, gushing about his excitement over trying to integrate Doncic into the team’s offensive sets. The hope for Redick and the rest of Laker Nation is that Luka can adapt quickly and become a steady and reliably great offensive option for the Lakers sooner rather than later.
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