When the moment calls for it, head coach JJ Redick won’t shy away from telling it how it is. Typically, he won’t do it in the media, but behind closed doors, he’ll say what needs to be said.
After a couple
of embarrassing, repetitive losses early this season, culminating in a convincing loss to the Spurs in the NBA Cup semi-final last week, Redick finally said what everyone else had been saying:
The Lakers defense was ass.
That’s not paraphrasing. That’s not a summary. Those were his words, at least as retold by Deandre Ayton. A film session after that Spurs game in the multiple days off before Sunday’s contest against the Suns allowed Redick to call out the team’s defense.
The team responded in a big way against Phoenix as the effort and energy play on both ends helped them build a huge lead and withstand a late rally from the Suns to escape with the win. After the contest, Ayton spoke about how the team responded to Redick calling them out.
“Seeing the scouting report, what teams make of us, was pretty embarrassing,” Ayton said. “We’re a really good offensive team but you start to look at those numbers in depth and see it over a span of games, like 10 games, it’s terrible. Tonight was a great start from those last two practices and that film meeting.
“JJ really got on us and basically showed us ‘Y’all showing y’all are ass right now and it’s time to tighten up a little bit.’ You got to have some pride on the defensive end.”
Well, JJ’s not wrong. They were, in fact, ass on defense.
Encouragingly, the Lakers did have a strong showing on that end of the floor against Phoenix. They forced the Suns into 19 turnovers and dominated on the glass on both ends, outrebounding them 54-37.
“We played hard and we were physical and we executed,” Redick said of what stood out defensively. “The second efforts, on-ball containment was better. Coverage execution was better. Again, we challenged them on having a defensive mentality and winning on the margins and not allowing compounding mistakes.
“It’s about growth. It’s not about perfection, it’s about growth and we got better in all those things today.”
Hopefully then, Saturday is a step forward as the Lakers continue growing and their days of being ass on defense are behind them.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
