After a dominating performance on Monday night against the Utah Jazz, the Los Angeles Lakers had the opportunity to go into the All-Star break on a seven-game win streak by repeating their performance. Unfortunately, JJ Redick’s squad did not come out with the same intensity as they had on Monday.
The Lakers’ defense was basically non-existent and a Jazz team motivated to not get swept this season were able to get a little revenge with a 12-point victory that was far worse than the final score indicated.
This contest had all the makings of a trap game with a rematch of a blowout win just two nights ago and this being the final game for the Lakers before the All-Star break. But Redick wasn’t using any of that as an excuse for his team and just felt the Lakers lost sight of what had been working for them prior to this performance, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I don’t really buy that. I think our guys, the spirit and all that stuff has been great. I thought we were locked in. I think the more human nature element is playing the same team twice in a row and feeling like it might be easy because we just beat them and we’re 3-0 against them. I think our preparation was there, I think our guys’ preparation was there. Sometimes you just momentarily can lose sight of the things required to earn a victory. I thought defensively, to start the game, Markkanen could just move wherever he wanted to move. We weren’t physical, we didn’t talk. Never really got to a place in the game where we were talking and executing the off-ball curl switch rules. You give a team confidence, you let them be comfortable and this is what happens. That’s the NBA.”
It was a disappointing performance for the Lakers without a doubt, especially considering how good they looked on Monday against this same Jazz team. But like Redick said, if you let any team in the NBA get confidence, this is capable of happening.
The Lakers looked as if they had already checked out for the break and they are far from the first team to do that. But hopefully Redick will be able to use this performance as motivation so that when they return to the court next week, they are firing on a much higher level.
JJ Redick discusses reasoning behind keeping Rui Hachimura in Lakers starting lineup
The Lakers trotted out their new starting lineup for the second straight game and with Luka Doncic in the lineup, many wondered if the more defensive-minded Dorian Finney-Smith would be a better addition with the starters over Rui Hachimura. Prior to the Lakers’ victory over the Jazz on Monday, Redick explained exactly why he is choosing to keep Hachimura with the starters.
“It’s Luka, AR, Bron, Rui and Jaxson,” Redick said before the Lakers’ 19-point win. “That group is obviously starting with a sample size of zero and we’ll go from there.
“There is a lot of thought around Doe, but frankly, he and the way he plays doesn’t change whether he comes off the bench or starts. Rui has just been fantastic all season long, so I wouldn’t say there’s a lineup change on the horizon in terms of getting Doe in the starting lineup. We love him in the starting lineup if somebody is out. We love him off the bench, but everything gets examined.”
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