JJ Redick describes the impact of the recent switch to a zone defense

ByNBAUSA



The Los Angeles Lakers will return to action on Friday as they to go against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Cripto.com Arena in the latest chapter of their cross-town rivalry.

The Lakers are coming off a win over the Dallas Mavericks before the midseason break, snapping a two-game sweep. They are 6-4 in their last 10 games.

For the coach JJ Redicktheir in-game settings worked particularly well transition to zone defense occasionally. He said they would continue to use it when needed.

“It starts with setting up our defense and just eating up a little bit of clock. We looked at it this morning and did a bunch of things with our analytics group. It’s not like teams are massively weaker from the middle or from three. I think some of the poor performance from three has to do with just breaking a little bit of the flow of the game, what do you mean by throwing, if that’s what Red said in a video posted by Cal’s Khobi Price.

The second-year coach has often rhapsodized about his willingness to defend, either one-on-one or as a unit. Although the zone defense is more of a strategic change than the primary scheme in the NBA, it could be effective with the right personnel.

The Lakers have active defenders in Marcus Smart, Jared Vanderbilt, Austin Reaves, Jackson Hayes and Maxi Kleber. A zone defense might as well limit the opponents from targeting Luka Doncic.

Redick, however, acknowledged that they can’t have a one-track mind, even if the zone defense has been effective.

“I don’t think with this group it’s going to be one thing. We have to continue to be adaptable and look for the right answers in the middle of the game,” Redick noted.

The Lakers are in the bottom half defensive ranking, allowing 116.0 points per game.





2026-02-20 02:28:00

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