Before Sunday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick signaled that some changes may be coming to the team’s rotation after three consecutive losses. Obviously, they would not have Austin Reaves for these changes, as well, as he was ruled out for at least the next four weeks with a calf strain. And it seems one of the major changes involved Luka Doncic.
Doncic usually plays for the entirety of the first quarter, then takes a rest at the start of the second. Against the Kings, Luka was checked out of the game by Nick Smith Jr. at the 2:31 mark of the first and did not return until the 9:12 mark of the second.
In his absence, the lineup of Smith, Maxi Kleber, Jake LaRavia, Jarred Vanderbilt and LeBron James won 21-14. Redick was pleased with what that group was able to do, and explained the reasoning behind the decision and if he plans to stick with it.
“I think it, particularly with [Austin Reaves] out, just gives more time for those guys to be the quarterback without the other one. Having said that, we ran a lot of stuff for them to be in two-man action, for them to be part of the play together tonight. So, it’s not like we’re trying to like, keep them apart, it’s just the nature of what we’re trying to do,” Redick said.
“And we’re going to do this for the foreseeable future and just see how it goes. But I thought it was good tonight and it’s a longer stretch for LeBron, it’s a shorter stretch for Luka, but it’s not going to diminish either of their overall playing time.”
Redick also discussed the importance of Doncic building on-court chemistry James with Reaves out of the lineup, and hopes the new rotation can help do that a bit more.
“Well, I think for our team to be at our best, that partnership and chemistry has to be excellent. And I’ve seen real growth this season,” he said. “I’m not surprised at the way those two guys played together tonight, because yesterday was one of the best practices we’ve had with the two of them playing together. And just sharing the basketball, and playing two-man action, and getting to the next thing. And there was a really good carryover from yesterday.”
The Lakers took care of business against the Kings, and have eight more games against below .500 teams in their next 10, which gives them a real opportunity to build chemistry and figure out what works against lower level teams in the league.
And for Redick, that starts with maximizing Doncic and James.
Luka Doncic scores 34 against Kings
It wasn’t the most efficient game shooting the ball from Doncic, but he did stuff the stat sheet in the win over the Kings. He scored 34 points on 11-of-23 shooting, to go along with five rebounds, seven assists and three steals. James added 24 points on a ridiculous 11-of-13 from the field.
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