The Los Angeles Lakers faced a challenge they haven’t had to deal with on Thursday night against the New York Knicks. JJ Redick’s team trailed for the majority of the second half, but fought back and forced overtime, eventually coming away with a four-point win over one of the best teams in the league.
Redick recently spoke about how important it is for a team to just play hard every single night and how this Lakers team has really embraced that. And that is something that other coaches around the league have even mentioned to him recently.
“I think big picture, something that means a lot to me frankly and it’s a credit to the guys on our team,” Redick said. “A few coaches recently, whether it’s been postgame, pregame, after the game, whatever, had said ‘Man, your team plays really hard.’ Frankly, we’ve played some teams during this stretch here at home that have played really hard and really this winning streak started with Portland and that was a conversation Chauncey (Billups) and I had because his team plays hard.
“When you get to the playoffs, you have to play hard to have any sort of chance. I think our guys’ ability to continuously just reach down into the well and give whatever they’ve got on a given night, regardless of if the shots are going in or if there’s defensive mistakes, they just continue to stay the course with their effort. I think that says a lot about our group.”
Many teams can struggle to keep their energy and effort up when shots aren’t falling as it can be demoralizing when the offense just isn’t going. But the Lakers never let that happen against the Knicks and Redick believes it’s a good thing for them to see that they can still beat a good team when not playing at their best.
“It was funny, because in the fourth when I think it was like an eight-point game… Dalton hits that big 3 and it was momentum-changing and I felt like it was a callback to the Sacramento game, which I think, what was that, the second or third game of the season,” Redick recalled. “When we were down double digits at the end of the third and Dalton hits a 3 to get us going and Bron kind of takes over. We haven’t had many of those games because frankly, we’ve had the lead a lot lately.
“I think it’s a good reminder for our group going forward that we can win games like this where we’re not at our best offensively, where we get off to a slow start defensively, that we have enough toughness and grit to get these games.”
Not too long ago it seemed as if the Lakers had little room for error in order to win on any given night. But this team has truly embraced that identity of playing hard every single night and when combined with the skill on the roster led by Luka Doncic and LeBron James, it makes the Lakers very tough to beat even when things aren’t perfect.
JJ Redick happy with Lakers’ poise in win over Knicks
The Knicks did everything they could to keep the Lakers down late in Thursday night’s contest and every time the Lakers made a run, New York had an answer. But the Lakers never gave up and continued to fight, which JJ Redick believes was a sign of the team’s poise while down against a very good team.
“A night like tonight when it felt like a lot of things didn’t go our way and wasn’t easy, they often can come from your non-stars. I thought Jaxson’s [Hayes] defense in the second half and Gabe’s [Vincent] shot making was huge. Gabe doesn’t make those four threes, we’re not even in the game. I think for the group overall, once we reached their level of effort and how hard they were playing, we were right there, and we all felt that in the second half.
“Again, it goes back to the poise thing. [You] make a run, you get it to eight and they go back up to 10 or 11. Then you make a run, you get it to seven and it goes back up. Our guys just stayed the course and refused to give in and let go of the rope. It seemed like [Jalen] Brunson had an answer for everything, and he was fantastic tonight. Our guys, in what felt like a playoff game at times, really just gutted out a win.”
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