JJ Redick complains Pistons ‘foul every possession’ after loss

After the defeat of 128-106 Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick took exception to the game officiating, calling out his opponent’s defense during his postgame media availability. The The Lakers faced the Pistons on LeBron James’ 41st birthdayas Detroit handed Los Angeles its 11th loss of the season.

After the game, Redick called out the Pistons’ defense for committing foulsmany of whom were not called throughout the night, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said.

“I think there’s probably a level of frustration when you’re turning the ball over and you feel like you’ve been fouled,” Redick said. “There’s certainly frustration. But I mean, again, I said it even here, we said it this morning: they’re going to foul every possession. You just have to play it.”

The Pistons forced the Lakers into 20 turnovers.

“He’s going to foul every possession, probably three or four times,” Redick added. “And it’s not a knock, I’m not saying that in a negative way, but they’re going to foul three or four times every possession. (And the refs) aren’t going to call a foul every possession.”

Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 27 points on 12-of-19 shooting. Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 30 points and 11 assists. Doncic also found James among his better assists night. James added 17 points, four assists and four rebounds.

Luka Dončić on the physicality of the Pistons in the defeat of the Lakers

Lakers guard Luka Doncic says the Pistons’ physicality played a significant role in Tuesday’s loss. However, Dončić did not complain about the opponent’s fouls. Instead, he vowed to match the Pistons’ intensity for the upcoming matchups in the future.

“We definitely have to match their physical ability,” Doncic said. “That’s the whole point. We have to match how they play. You saw the referees let it go, so we should play (with) physicality, for sure.”

LeBron James, on the other hand, sounded like he was more on board with coach JJ Redick, but from his postgame comments, he chose not to elaborate. Perhaps as a means of avoiding a large fine.

“It’s not my lane to talk about how it was official or not,” James said.

The Lakers will look to bounce back from their loss when they host the Grizzlies on Thursday.