Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick chats with Los Angeles Lakers center Jaxson Hayes (11) during the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick chats with Los Angeles Lakers center Jaxson Hayes (11) during the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Los Angeles Lakers saw their three-game winning streak dry up on Monday in a 119-110 loss to the shorthanded defending champs, the Oklahoma City Thunder, on their home floor. The final score is deceptive–it was a three-point game with a minute to play, as the Lakers missed their final three shots to stretch the final margin.
It was a frustrating loss for the Lakers, who shot the ball well against the tough Thunder defense (50.0% from the field) but struggled from the 3-point line, especially in the fourth quarter when L.A. was just 3-for-11.
But it was also frustrating to deal with the rough-and-tumble Thunder defense, which is as physical as any group in the league and at times appears to get different officiating than the rest of the league. Star guard Austin Reaves was whistled for a technical foul in the third quarter after he was crunched between defenders Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Joe without a whistle.
JJ Redick Used His Challenges
Lakers coach JJ Redick said that, coming into the game, the team was well aware of how physical the Thunder would be, especially playing without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is out with an abdominal injury.
But Redick was frustrated that he had to use up his two coach’s challenges–against the Thunder, he could have used a lot more. One of the challenges was on an out-of-bounds play, and another was a trip of Reaves.
“The Austin trip was a big play,” Redick said. “We did a good job in the first half, we just had five turnovers after 10 in the first half. That killed us in the first half. The led to 20 points. But he got tripped and it would have been an easy proximate foul. I shouldn’t have used the one, especially the one out of bounds—it was ridiculous.”
Redick was asked whether he knew of any potential remedies for the challenge problem. Coaches are allowed two, but even if those two are upheld, coaches are not awarded more challenges. Maybe, Redick was asked, that has been raised in competition committee meetings?
“Not to my knowledge,” he said. “I mean, how many are you gonna—are you gonna go 6-for-6 in a game? Because you’re gonna get six opportunities.”
Lakers Struggled With Thunder Physicality
Of course, fault for the Lakers’ loss was not all on the referees–the team had too many first-half turnovers and struggled to adjust to how the Thunder were defending Reaves. In the first half, Reaves was 4-for-7 shooting with 12 points, but in the second half, he was just 1-for-7 with four points.
“There was a couple tough 3s that he took but he had a couple angles on his drives that he just didn’t finish, had a couple middies that he didn’t—he created separation with his bump but just didn’t hit,” Redick said. “Jalen Williams down the stretch, did the same thing against us and he made his. Some of it is make-miss. We had open looks down the stretch, we didn’t make those.”
The turnovers were still bothering Redick after the game.
“They’re gonna pressure you and I think we have a number of really good possessions where we brought the right guys in the action and we got the matchups …” he said. “But they’re going to naturally create some turnovers. Again, it’s the unforced ones that you can kind of point to and say, we don’t need it. Try to hit singles. You know, we need to hit singles, and it seems like we don’t need the home run.”