There were questions surrounding some of the decisions head coach JJ Redick made throughout the Los Angeles Lakers series loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Most notable was his decision to stick with the five-man group of LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith for the entire second half of Game 4.
With the Lakers desperate to tie the series, Redick made the call to not make a single substitution and go with the group he trusted most. With the Lakers ultimately crumbling down the stretch, some felt he was to blame as L.A. looked gassed in the final minutes. But James himself completely disagrees.
LeBron made it clear in the latest episode of the “Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash that he felt fine in the moment and was only tired afterwards because all that he puts into a playoff game:
“I felt in the moment. I wasn’t tired, I wasn’t looking for a sub. If it came, cool, I would’ve accepted it. But we had an opportunity to tie the series at 2-2 on the road versus a great team and the coaches rolled the dice and we rolled with it. We just didn’t make enough plays. But I left that game extremely tired and extremely like ‘Oh shit,’ because it was a postseason game, not because I played the whole second half. I was tired as hell because I gave my whole body, my mind, my soul to the game for 48 minutes, I was extremely tired. But it wasn’t because I played 24 straight minutes in the second half. No. We had an opportunity and we didn’t counter it.”
James would also note that none of the Lakers questioned Redick or the coaching staff for the decision and placed the blame solely on the players for not coming through:
“And none of us questioned JJ and the coaching staff for what happened. Obviously Gabe and Vando, guys that have given us so many great minutes, they definitely felt a way because they’re competitors. We all feel like we can get in and make a moment happen. But it wasn’t a decision, which JJ told us, it wasn’t a decision that was based on guys not being able to do the job. It was a decision based on the feeling of the game and the momentum of the game. None of us looked at him or the coaching staff any way for the decision that he made and shit, it was our fault that we didn’t come through.”
Regardless of where the blame is placed, the end result was a Lakers loss and now the season is over. But it sounds as if the criticism really only came from the outside as the players themselves understood the reasoning and have full trust and belief in Redick and the rest of the coaching staff.
LeBron James describes emotions following Lakers’ loss to Timberwolves
Obviously, LeBron James and the Lakers did not expect their postseason to end in the first round at the hands of the Timberwolves, but the superstar has now had some time to reflect on the series.
James said that there were a lot of emotions to unravel and he has gone back and questioned what he and the Lakers could have done better in the series. But in the end, he simply noted that the playoffs are always about matchups and the Lakers ran into a tough one.
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