Before the Los Angeles Lakers’ series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, JJ Redick made a tongue-in-cheek comment about how the defending champions never commit fouls.
Now, after the Lakers’ Game 2 loss, Redick expressed frustration with that very notion.
“I sarcastically said the other day they were the most disruptive team without fouling,” Redick said. “They have a few guys that foul on every possession, and all of the good defenses do. SGA get like a, I don’t even know, a touch foul on a drive.
“There was a stretch where like four straight possessions our guys got absolutely clobbered. Tried to make a entry pass to Jaxson and Jaylin Williams was grabbing his jersey with both arms, and [that ends up being] a turnover. They’re hard enough to play. They’re hard enough to play. You gotta be able to just call it if they foul. And they do foul.”
The Lakers were frustrated with the officials all night as there appeared to be a number of physical plays that were not whistled for fouls, particularly on LeBron James. Despite the loss, Redick did not feel their frustration impacted the Lakers’ play, although he did admit the Thunder do a good job of staying composed in those situations.
“Our guys were so good tonight just staying together and poised,” he said. “That’s the emotional part of basketball and I think some of the reason [the Thunder] officiated the way they are is because they don’t so emotion, and that’s a credit to them.
“They’ve really taken the emotion out of the game and they’re super tight, they don’t complain to the officials. Maybe they’re beneficiaries of that, I don’t know.”
Regardless of the officiating, the Lakers will head back home in a 2-0 hole and now must beat the Thunder four of the next five games to keep their season alive. Without Luka Doncic, that is an extremely tough task, although there’s no doubt Redick will have his team prepared and ready to go for Game 3 on Saturday back at Crypto.com Arena.
JJ Redick doesn’t think officials cost Lakers win in Game 2
While Redick was clearly frustrated with the officiating in Game 2, he knows it did not cost the Lakers the game.
“We didn’t lose because of the refs,” Redick said. “That’s never the case. You don’t lose because of refs. You lose because the other team outplays you. OKC outplayed us.”
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