The Los Angeles Lakers have failed to get off to a winning start to the 2025-26 season, losing 119-109 to the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. The Lakers particularly struggled in the third quarter against the Warriors, and head coach JJ Redick stated postgame that he is concerned about a trend that he has seen now for quite some time with his team.
“The trend I see is that we continue to be a terrible third-quarter team to start,” Redick said. “That was last year. That was the preseason. Got to rethink some things, and it’s a two-way thing with the guys. What do they need at halftime to make sure they’re ready to play? They’re not ready to play to start the third quarter.”
The Lakers were down 55-54 at halftime, but allowed the Warriors to go on an 18-4 run to start the third quarter. They lost the quarter 35-25 and dug themselves into a hole that they weren’t able to come out of.
As Redick pointed out, the Lakers struggling in the third is not a new issue. They averaged 26.7 points in the quarter last season, which ranked 27th in the NBA. Then, in the preseason, they put up 22.7 points on average in the period, the lowest among NBA teams.
The fact that Redick still hasn’t been able to fix this problem is concerning. Luka Doncic also stated that the third quarter cost the Lakers the game, and he acknowledged that this was a problem last season as well. The coaches and players just need to do a better job.
Doncic doesn’t get much of the blame for this loss, though. The 26-year-old was by far the Lakers’ best player, recording 43 points (17-27 FG), 12 rebounds, nine assists, two steals, and one block. Doncic playing 41 minutes in the opener was a bit concerning, but Redick isn’t worried about the heavy workload.
“Every game is different,” Redick stated. “Not concerned about that.”
With LeBron James out due to sciatica, you knew there would be nights where Doncic was going to be forced to carry the offense the way he did against the Warriors. The role players just failed to step up here, as Austin Reaves was the only other Laker to score more than 10 points. The hope is they will fare better moving forward.
On the topic of James, Redick admitted he was thinking about how great it would have been to have him during a rough offensive stretch in the first half against the Warriors.
“It’s hard to forget about LeBron,” Redick said. “The reality is, when you’re focused on the group that you have, you got to make that group work. So it’s sometimes you can just be like, ‘Oh, oh my god, we’re going to get LeBron back at some point.’ Like it’s awesome, but you are focused.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Redick added. “I did have one moment in that first half when we had a few possessions we couldn’t score against the zone. I’m like, ‘Ah, it’d be great to have LeBron just to throw it to at the high post.'”
Well, James might only be back in mid-November, so Redick is going to miss his presence on the court for a bit longer. As for what the 41-year-old liked from his team against the Warriors, he thought the discipline was pretty good for the most part. Redick would hope that remains the case when they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves next at Crypto.com Arena on Friday at 10 PM ET.
