JJ Redick breaks down LA’s ‘salty’ defense in brutal loss to Spurs

LOS ANGELES – When it was announced LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reeves and Marcus Smart are all ruled out for Los Angeles LakersIn the game against the San Antonio Spurs, it was clear that it was going to be an uphill battle for the Lakers. Of course, the Spurs beat the Lakers 136-108, but after the game, the head coach JJ Redick he was not satisfied with the defense from the top.

In games where all of the primary offensive options are sidelined, JJ Redick suggested, while making it clear he’s not making assumptions about his team, that sometimes the right mentality isn’t there.

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

“44 points in the first half,” Redick continued. “I could show 18 snaps where we don’t play our defense. We don’t have much to take away other than being bad on defense.”

The Lakers found themselves trailing by double digits early in the first quarter as Victor Wembanyama outscored their entire team by himself. At the end of the first quarterThe Lakers lost 47-30, and Wembanyama had both Jackson Hayes and Massie Kleber in foul trouble. Jake LaRavia picked up five fouls in the first half and he ended up fouling out guarding Vembanyama.

By halftime, the Spurs lead grew to 84-55. By the end of Vembanyama’s night, he had 40 points. Redick admitted the Lakers have done a decent job on the Spurs star in past games, but that type of coverage just wasn’t there in this game.

“I’m not saying we shut him down, but we limited him with our coverages against him. We just didn’t execute it. And he was very aggressive, as aggressive to start the game as I’ve seen him both attacking the basket and shooting without hesitation from three,” Redick said. “I really left my mark on the game in that first half. And with the guys we had, 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 against Doncic’s former team, the Dallas Mavericks, on Thursday in the team’s final game before the All-Star break.