Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has clarified his comment about his team not having much margin for error. That comment was brought up in Redick’s postgame press conference after the Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 118-108 at Chase Center and made it clear he was not referring to the roster then.
“What I was kinda getting at wasn’t our roster,” Redick said. “What I was getting at was the nature of how we play, the nature of how we play through our best players, and not having necessarily a Stephen Curry on our roster that can literally generate 10 to 12 threes a game. I was getting at the math more than anything.
“What I would say is the last two games, our three best players have played really well,” Redick continued. “And everyone else has starred in their roles and that’s what a great team is. (It) is guys starring in their roles.
“So, for (Jarred Vanderbilt), him starring in his role, Gabe (Vincent) starring in his role, Max Christie starring in his role, Jaxson Hayes starring, all those guys, (Dorian Finney-Smith). That separates us a little bit,” Redick added. “That creates a margin for us to become a great team.”
You could argue that’s the case for every team. You’re only really going to be great in the NBA if the stars and the supporting cast do their jobs well, as was the case for the Lakers against the Warriors.
The two stars were excellent against the Warriors. Anthony Davis had 36 points (13-23 FG), 13 rebounds, three assists, three steals, and a block while LeBron James put up 25 points (12-25 FG), five rebounds, 12 assists, and one steal.
Austin Reaves, meanwhile, didn’t play quite as well as the two stars but did finish with a solid stat line of 16 points (6-10 FG), five rebounds, seven assists, and a steal. As for the rest, well Dalton Knecht and Max Christie scored 13 and 11 points respectively while Jarred Vanderbilt had three steals. They all did their job well and as a result, the Lakers improved to 25-18 on the season.
The Lakers have now won five of their last six games, with the only loss in that time coming to the Los Angeles Clippers. It was after that game against the Clippers, that Redick stated in his press conference that the Lakers didn’t have a big margin for error.
“We just don’t have a huge margin for error and nor can we create that margin organically,” Redick said. “It has to be emphasized daily to touch the paint, to play paint-to-great mentality, to make the extra pass.
“We don’t have a guy on our team that’s going to necessarily always draw two to the ball,” Redick added. “We don’t have a guy on our team that’s going to be able to get past his guy one-on-one and get to the paint and spray it out. It’s just not our team. So, we have to do it through connectivity, through execution and when we do that, we’re really good.”
Well, the connectivity has been good recently and the Lakers have executed well as well. Redick would be hoping that continues to be the case when they take on the Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center on Monday at 7 PM ET.
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