JJ Redick blasts Lakers’ ‘sucky’ defense in brutal loss to Spurs

LOS ANGELES – When it was announced the LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Marcus Smart were all ruled out for the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the San Antonio Spurs, it was clear that it was going to be an uphill climb for the Lakers. Sure enough, the Spurs walloped the Lakers, 136-108, but after the game, head coach JJ Redick was displeased with the defense from the opening tip.

In games when all the primary offensive options are sidelined, JJ Redick suggested, while making it clear he was not making assumptions about his team, that sometimes the right mentality is not present.

“You have some of these games, and I don’t know the belief level of the guys that were out there, that some of these games you’re thinking to yourself, ‘oh I’m gonna get more shots tonight.’ And you just come out with zero intent defensively,” Redick said. “Wemby blitzed us and we didn’t execute what we’re trying to do. And then when he didn’t have the ball and they drove, it was like one-on-one, no help defense.”

“44 points in the paint in the first half,” Redick continued. “I could have showed 18 clips of us not playing our defense. Not a lot to take away other than we suck at defense.”

The Lakers found themselves trailing by double digits early in the first quarter as Victor Wembanyama was outscoring their entire team by himself. At the end of the first quarter, the Lakers were down 47-30 and Wembanyama had both Jaxson Hayes and Maxi Kleber in foul trouble. Jake LaRavia picked up five fouls in the first half and ultimately fouled out guarding Wembanyama.

By halftime, the Spurs lead had ballooned to 84-55. By the time Wembanyama’s night was finished, he had 40 points. Redick acknowledged that the Lakers have done a decent job on the Spurs’ star in past games, but that type of coverage was just non-existent this game.

“I’m not saying we’ve shut him down, but we’ve limited him with our coverages against him. We just didn’t execute those. And he was very aggressive, as aggressive to start a game as I’ve seen him both in attacking the basket and in shooting without hesitation from three,” Redick said. “Just really put his imprint on the game in that first half. And with the guys we had out there, it was hard to create shots at the rim. I think we took five, we were 2-of-5 at the rim in the first half.”

The Lakers next test is against Doncic’s former team, the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday in the team’s final game before the All-Star break.

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