Lakers coach J.J. Redick pushed back on the notion that the Lakers lost Game 4 of their series against Minnesota because he didn’t make any substitutions in the second half.
“Our two best players missed layups at the rim,” Redick said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “I don’t think they missed layups because they were tired.”
Redick also gave his reasoning for the shorter rotation in conversations with his key reserves.
“I spoke to everyone (Monday) that would’ve potentially played in the second half,” Redick said. “They all understood it. There was no issue with that.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- At the brink of elimination, the Lakers must take a Game 7 mentality into the remainder of the series. Austin Reaves shared his thoughts on that subject with the Los Angeles Times’ Dan Woike. “You gotta treat every possession as an individual thing that you gotta go attack,” he said. “And the more the game goes on, obviously when you get to the fourth quarter and it’s a close game, those plays matter more than the one did the first two minutes of the game. But if you go in with a mentality like that of every single play matters and you execute to the best of your ability, you’re never gonna be perfect, but you’ll give yourself a good opportunity to win.”
- Brandin Podziemski‘s season turned for the better with the addition of Jimmy Butler. Warriors coach Steve Kerr explained why to The Athletic’s Sam Amick. “The thing with Brandin, we know he’s at his best when he’s a secondary play-maker, playing off the weak side (and) running through the catch, creating shots in the paint for himself and others,” Kerr said. “Once we got Jimmy, we were running a lot of offense through Jimmy, and that allowed Brandin to play on the other side. I think he’s at his best when he can do that.”
- The Suns could have a number of assistants from playoff teams on their radar as their head coaching search continues. That’s why the process could drag on — they didn’t have to wait on Frank Vogel and Mike Budenholzer before hiring them, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic notes. Despite his longtime ties to the franchise and his head coaching experience, Steve Nash isn’t interested in the job, Marc Stein reports. Nash will be among the broadcasters for Amazon Prime next season.
You better figure out your roster plans before trying to find someone to run the circus. Bud doesn’t get a free pass but the GM didn’t do him any favors. As long as the GM and owner keep up this cycle the team is doomed.
Sun’s owner is the problem. Instead of building a deep team for the playoffs he thinks he can buy a team by just picking up stars. You need a bench or you don’t win. What makes the 2 top teams in the NBA is a deep bench.
I agree that a better bench plays a part of it, but teams shrink their rotations once they hit the playoffs. The biggest issue was the Bradley Beal trade. No question that he’s a good player, it’s him horrible fit with this roster that’s the real issue. He was “acquire a star for the sake of acquiring a star”, with no thought at all to fit and how it affected the building out of the roster.
I just look at OKC and Cavs they both have great bench players in case of a injury. Sun’s have nothing and 2 older vets that will get tired playing extended minutes in playoffs. Beal trade was always a head scratcher. Thye need to trade Durant for sure. Beal they arestuck with. Booker ifthey want to do a complete rebuild.
@arc89 I still can’t believe GSW without Jimmy just beat a full strength Houston in the playoffs. Add them to OKC and Cavs too.
I knew they could play well against Houston because Rockets lack of offense. Round 2 is going to be tough if its T-wolves or Lakers because they will need to hit on all cylinders. Cektics is the third best team in the plaoffs and Nuggets would be 4th best.
If Joker goes down, the Nuggets aren’t even a playoff team.
Warriors can weather Steph or Jimmy going down in these playoffs.
Edge: Warriors
However, imo the only teams who can win the title this year are OKC, GSW, CLE and DEN. Boston is too injured and doesn’t have the aura of a winner this year, like GSW and “Joker and randoms” have.
Lakers should be grateful for JJ. He is the perfect coach for the Lakers right now. Why isn’t Spo getting grilled for one of the most embarrassing losses in history? Some of these media members should start second guessing the extra french fries they order for lunch instead of a healthy salad, not jj gameplan.
What are you talking about? Spo has gotten to the final twice in the last 5 years with a mediocre roster. If anyone should be getting grilled it’s Pat Riley for not trading Butler last summer/fall and instead opted to ruin the team’s future with keeping him on board and selling him pennies on the dollar.
JJ is making mistakes. Over playing Luka and LeBron. Not having faith in his bench players. Tired legs miss shots in the 4th quarter.
Is anyone here stunned but ecstatic with how the Wolves-Lakers series is progressing?
Stunned at game 4, kind of expected the game 3 result. There’s no reason the Lakers shouldn’t have split the away games.
Too many people counted the Wolves out when they have a tough team and plays good defense.
The Lakers were a better playoff team with AD, this roster with this haphazard trade to add Luka, threw off the roster too much. They need to totally restructure everything to complement Luka/Bron, this group ain’t it.
The Lakers, Clippers and Rockets were more 6-8 seed than 2 and 3 and 5, and the Warriors and Nuggets were more top 4.
unless wolves are your team, why are you ecstatic?
When the Lakers and Celtics have like 50% of the titles, it’s considered “normal” for all other teams to hate on them. Did you not know this? Same goes for Yankees in MLB.
OneWay Wonder doesn’t get what winning is about in NBA. And since most of the LocoLuka Clan here doesn’t understand Defense. They don’t get it either. Basketball is a 2Way sport. And if you watch this fame. These playoffs are telling you exactly that. Not seeing it or worse not understanding that. Just means you don’t respect the game. Luka is a great player. Unfortunately at 26 yrs old. He’s still a OneWay Wonder ……. Minny knows it. Laker HOFer knows it. Means any real baller knows it. Read it !!
link to basketballnetwork.net
“I saw what Nico Harrison was talking about” – Kendrick Perkins proclaims Anthony Edwards will win a championship before Luka Doncic”
I have to say, if I was a team looking towards the future, I would trade AD to get Luka 10/10 times. But I can definitely see what was concerning to Dallas when I watch Luka refuse to swing the ball almost every time, be so lazy with the ball for unforced turnovers, or put forth little defensive effort on multiple plays despite being in what should be his athletic prime…
And he was due 350 mill from Dallas. Now traded he will only be due 250 mill from Lakers. LA thinks they can change him ok. We can all see it now.
I think from LA’s perspective, you hope Luka got a rude awakening from the trade and you’re also getting him at a discount. He’s undoubtedly a talent. Better than hoping AD will carry the torch when LBJ retires. But yeah…I can certainly see it. I can also see why Minnesota reportedly instantly hung up the phone when Dallas called about getting Ant
link to lasportshub.com
On topic, Podziemski really has proven himself as a future NBA solid regular at minimum and potential superstar at most. I wanna see a full year of Jimmy and Podz together.
Podz, Moody and Santos all leveled up their game like 10x the second Jimmy arrived. I want to know the background stuff there, what went on there? We also just watched Jimmy publicly shame Buddy Hield into playing better, what was he saying to Podz, Moody and Santos??
I think you’re right about Butler elevating Podz. Some players are able to do that and it’s an underrated part of their game. Like Tyler Herro the All-Star saying he would have played a lot better if Butler was still there, or Jaime Jacquez taking a notable step back amidst Jimmy not really being with the team this year. Leadership cannot be overstated but is regularly underestimated.