Heading into Saturday night, it felt like the Los Angeles Lakers were in for a trap game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Given how absurdly injured New Orleans is, head coach JJ Redick had to make sure his team came out with the right mindset.
However, things did not go that way as the Pelicans were simply outworking L.A. in the first half, especially on the offensive glass. There was a lot of ball watching and lack of boxing out, which led to trailing by as many as 15 in the second quarter.
Thankfully, the Lakers cleaned that up in the second half by limiting New Orleans to one shot and despite having limited fire power, the purple and gold got back into the game and eventually came away with the win. Redick kept his message simple during intermission and it was a matter of will, nothing to do with X’s and O’s.
“Honestly, our defense was good, at least our first shot defense in the first half,” Redick said. “I think they shot 36% on their first shot, it was the 12 offensive rebounds that killed us. Made it very clear they were going to crash at a really high rate. And the game was going to come down to whether or not they could get more possessions than us. Our guys, I thought in the third quarter, defensively had a really good mindset. We were able to collect some offensive rebounds, they ended with six, I think in the second half. But, there wasn’t really an adjustment defensively. It was just get the f—ing ball, you know? That was all it was.”
It was a very simple mindset change that Redick wanted out of his players because those first half issues looked like a lack of effort. Granted, the team was on the second night of a back-to-back, but every game matters in the Western Conference.
Losing games that the Lakers should have won plagued L.A. down the stretch of last season when they were fighting for seeding. Redick looks to be an intense and animated coach, so being able to flip a switch in the players is a great sign as they avoided a disappointing loss.
JJ Redick credits Lakers for responding to feedback from coaching staff
The hardest thing for any coach to accomplish is to get and maintain buy in from their players. Especially for a first-time head coach in JJ Redick, let alone coaching a prestigious organization like the Lakers.
Although, Redick smartly surrounded himself with an experienced staff to back up his philosophies. He credits his players for responding to feedback from his staff, which has resulted in a good start to the regular season.
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