The Los Angeles Lakers offense was one of the best in the league earlier in the season. Head coach JJ Redick looked the part of a savant when, through 15 games, the Lakers had the No. 4 offensive rating in the NBA and had a 10-5 record.
But they have taken a complete nosedive in the weeks since. In their last 10 games, the Lakers are 3-7 and have the 29th-ranked offense in the NBA, ahead of only the league-worst Washington Wizards. Even though their defense has seen a slight boost, it hasn’t made up for the total shutdown of what was one of the league’s best offenses earlier in the season.
That drought continued on Friday night when the Lakers could only muster up 87 points in a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, shooting 10-of-35 from deep. When searching for answers, Redick focused on what the Timberwolves have defensively on their roster, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I’ll give them some credit. That’s what they do. Not only do they have the physical makeup on the perimeter, they know they can be aggressive because then there’s Gobert behind there. So a lot of it is their team. Overall though, we were able to generate some great looks from 3. Just feels like we can’t really get into that rhythm from beyond the arc. Another game where we shoot some good 3s and just can’t knock them down.”
But the Lakers have to start somewhere to improve, and Redick harped on a similar theme that the team had discussed for their defense in recent weeks:
“I think you have to trust the process of running good offense and getting good looks and trust that those shots in the aggregate will go in more.”
The Lakers seem to have a trust issue on both sides of the floor right now, as it has been one of the main buzzwords used when discussing struggles for the team this season. But in order for the Lakers to improve, they do have to start trusting one another and trusting in the scheme they are working in.
Scoring 87 points and playing at a league-worst efficiency on offense is hardly a winning formula. But they have shown an ability to score at an elite rate. Now, they have to figure out how to get back to it.
JJ Redick: Turnovers killed Lakers
JJ Redick was afforded a rare break to help reset the team and get them ready for another tough stretch of games.
The Lakers got several days off due to the Emirates NBA Cup, though Redick opted to use the time to let his players heal as several of them are banged up. While the extra rest certainly had to do some good, it didn’t help Los Angeles offensively as they were defeated by the Timberwolves on Friday night.
Both teams weren’t particularly sharp and some of that can probably be attributed to the extended layoff, though the Lakers arguably had their best defensive game of the 2024-25 season. However, they were extremely careless with the basketball as they committed 22 turnovers compared to just 14 for Minnesota.
After the loss, Redick admitted that the turnovers ruined the team’s chances of winning the game.
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