JJ Redick, one of the highest 3-point shooters in NBA history, earned his first win as a Los Angeles Lakers maestro on Tuesday. His team, on the other hand, only made five of 30 three-pointers (16.7%) in the 110-103 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Redick is certainly not a sinister craftsman, or, in this case, a marksman, but, in this case, he (at least in part) blamed his team’s equipment.
The basketball used by the Lakers and Wolves was a modern model, he told reporters.
“Tomorrow I will submit a request to the league so we can play with worn-out basketballs,” Redick said, via Spectrum Sportsnet. “I’m not sure why we’re playing in real games, I’m very serious, I’m not sure why we’re playing in real games with new basketballs. Anyone who has touched a new NBA ball, has a feeling and a different feel than a worn basketball.
“I didn’t know until the timeout. There was a long rebound, I grabbed it. I was like, ‘What? Why are we playing with this ball? Give the guys a chance to pick a ball. Great basketball.’ “I guess I’m joking. I’m neurotic.”
The Timberwolves, of course, have used the same basketball as the Lakers. They managed to explode 13 of 41 (31.7%) from deep – an atrocious amount if maintained over a full season, but not a shaky outlier in a game.
Los Angeles overcame their extremely poor shooting because Anthony Davis was dominant and outscored Minnesota 72-40 in the paint. However, if you’re concerned about the Lakers’ spacing at the start of the season, you might be alarmed by the numbers from their first game.
Last time, they shot 37.7% on their three-pointers, which was rated as a mismatch. 8 in the NBA, but the statistic that best represented his shooting ability was tried Three-pointers: Per possession, denial teams received three-pointers less frequently. Redick, of course, has been talking about revamping his shooting profile since he was rented. He didn’t pitch particularly worried about it on Tuesday, although, because they attempted 3-pointers at excellent speed early in the game, they harassed the Wolves inside all game.
“In terms of the process of generating threes, look, the paint was open in the second half,” Redick said. “I think we made 19 threes in the first half, which is the pace we want to be at for our season average in terms of a complete game, and we made some big plays. And there were even some threes there in the second half I thought it was very open and we just couldn’t take them down.
In other words, Redick was bothered by life in terms of the ball itself; he was generally satisfied with what the Lakers did with it.
