The Lakers hosted the Celtics last night that ended up being a 22-point blowout loss (89-111) for the team in purple and gold. Following the game, JJ Redick addressed his viral interaction with the officials from the game, where he tried to demonstrate how Neemias Queta goaltended a shot from Deandre Ayton.
“He stuck his entire hand through the rim…honestly, that’s a great way to defend floaters”
JJ Redick on grabbing the net after no-call 😅
(Via @SpectrumSN) pic.twitter.com/9RYuB80ouY
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 23, 2026
Redick remained adamant that he would seek clarification from the officials on that call, and today, after practice, he revealed the aftermath of the incident. Redick says he approached Monty McCutchen, the NBA’s SVP of ref development, to get some answers.
“I think there was a spillover in frustration from the obvious one in the first half on LeBron. I spoke to Monty this morning, got some great explanations on some stuff that I had questions on,” said the Lakers head coach after practice tonight.
“And honestly, he said it wasn’t a goaltend, so I don’t know if we want to endanger our guys’ fingers, but if I were Luke Kornet or Wemby, I would literally, every time somebody took a shot, I would stick my hand in the rim… It’s a new thing for me to learn. On this job, you learn something new every day.”
Redick elaborated on the explanation that he got, saying it is permissible for a player to “jostle” the rim as long as it’s not pulled down in the process.
NBA fans saw this as an unnecessary fixation on a single call that may have been immaterial to the big picture of understanding why the Lakers lost. They took to social media and called out Redick for being distracted by the officials when bigger problems could be brewing for the team.
“Let’s take it back and give you 2 points [you] still lose… Crying about the refs after losing by 22 is nasty work. 💀 Even if you were to get five ‘makeup’ calls or 10 free points, you’re still losing by double digits. Take the L and move on. Shameless.”
“Complaining about two points when getting blown out. The man is not made to be the head coach of the Lakers.”
“They lost by 20+, and this is what the LA media and Redick are focused on.”
“We really have to stop whining about calls; that’s not why we lost.”
“Didn’t they lose by one or two? Or was it 22? What a loser mentality. Perfect for the Lakers 😂😂😂😂.”
“I’m about tired of Jonathan Clay. Been complaining about the goaltending, but hasn’t coached an ounce of defense all season. Coaching has been basic at best this year, and I don’t think you have the ear of the locker room as you think.”
“Quit crying about it. It should be the absolute least of your worries right now.”
Various such reactions flooded the internet after the Lakers’ head coach’s comments. While public scrutiny comes with every small decision Redick makes, this time the public’s scrutiny seems justified.
Redick himself had admitted that the Lakers’ offense was “awful” last night, and Luka Doncic even conceded to chemistry issues in the franchise’s big three that need a lot more work right now.
Fixating on the impact of one call seems to be a distraction from the more important issues at hand. And even the rule clearly states that the defender should be coming in contact with the ball on the way down into the cylinder or while it is at the rim to commit a goaltending violation.
During the incident, Queta only comes in contact with the rim and not the ball. Touching the rim would amount to basket interference only when the ball is above the cylinder at the time of contact, which also wasn’t the case here.
The Lakers fell to 34-22 following this loss to the Celtics. With just 26 games left in the season, the big three have only played 12 games together. Instead of figuring out the issues in their offense, if Redick keeps insisting on following a pattern of blaming the officials, he might soon fall out of favor with the Lakers’ fans.
They are hosting the Magic at the Crypto.com Arena for their next game tomorrow night. It will be interesting to see how the Lakers respond to this setback, but the fans clearly want a more decisive approach instead of one that involves incessant complaining.
