JJ Redick finds ‘darn close’ silver lining despite Lakers’ playoff sweep by Thunder

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers’ season came to an end on Monday night as they were swept out of the Western Conference Semifinals by the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers fanbase has come to expect championship contention each season, and following the team’s sweep by the Thunder, head coach JJ Redick reflected on the key wins throughout the season.

In order to become a championship team, there needs to be steady growth along the way, and JJ Redick was clear that while the Lakers still have some ways to go, there was plenty of success in terms of building towards that goal.

“I will say, for the things we set out to do, build our championship habits, build our championship communication and championship shape, I thought we were darn close to doing that. Doesn’t mean you’re gonna win a championship,” Redick said. “But I would say I take a lot of pride in our players and what they all individually went through, what we collectively went through and what we turned out to be.

“You dont know on day one of training camp what you’re going to turn out to be. I’m just proud of who we are.”

Despite an uneven start to the regular season, the Lakers seemingly found something that worked in the final months leading up to the playoffs. With LeBron James taking a backseat role to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, the Lakers won 16 of 18 games during a stretch that began at the tail end of February and carried them through the beginning of April.

The Lakers came into their April 2 matchup with the Thunder rolling with a ton of confidence, and that was when the bad news hit. Both Doncic and Reaves suffered injuries in that game, sidelining them indefinitely. While Reaves was able to make a return during the postseason, Doncic was not.

The team never got to see what a continuation of the streak they were on would have looked like once the playoffs rolled around. But in a way, the Lakers continued to show those championship habits Redick was talking about as they rallied together and came into the playoffs on a high note despite losing their two best players to injury.

Their series win against the Rockets was a good example of that, racing out to a 3-0 lead despite being short-handed. And then closing the series out on the road, in blowout fashion in Game 6, with Reaves back in the fold, against a Rockets team that was surging with newfound confidence.

The Lakers now head into a crucial offseason where the front office will be tasked with getting this roster to the same level as the Thunder. And there are a few free agent questions the team will have to answer as well, namely James, Reaves and Rui Hachimura.

But for now, Redick and the team are allowing themselves to celebrate the small wins along the way before the work begins again.

“I think we had a lot of guys that had great individual seasons. Any time you can win 50 games, any time you can be at home, get home court the first round … I talked all the time towards the end of the season in the playoffs about our resiliency, I think one of the biggest wins for us was, there was multiple times throughout the regular season and multiple times towards the end of the regular season with the injuries, and during the playoffs where we could have just laid down. Tonight would have been an easy night for us to lay down,” Redick continued.

“I don’t know who the F came up with moral victories, I don’t even know what that phrase means. I don’t believe in it, but I look at all the small wins along the way as part of the journey.”

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