After the Los Angeles Lakers’ 131-114 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, coach JJ Redick criticized his team for its transition defense, defensive rebounding and overall effort. The Grizzlies took advantage when the Lakers dropped back on defense and Memphis recovered almost 40% of its misses. Redick also told reporters that even though Los Angeles had “talked about not letting the ball go up the middle,” the Grizzlies “killed us on that.”
Redick praised LeBron James, who scored 39 points on 15-of-24 shooting: “He’s almost 40 years old and he played the hardest on our team.” Asked if he was satisfied with the rest of the team’s effort, he said, “None of us are.” D’Angelo Russell played only 22 minutes, and Redick told reporters that he did not put Russell back on after midway through the third quarter because of his “level of competence” and “attention to detail.”
These are “some of the things we’ve talked to him about for a couple of weeks,” Redick said. “And sometimes, he’s been really good with those things, and other times he just falls back into certain habits. It wasn’t like a punishment; I just felt like, for us, to have a chance to win this game, that was the route we wanted to take. . [Vincent] “In the first half, defensively, he was fantastic and I just wanted to see what he looked like.”
Late in the first quarter, Russell allowed Scotty Pippen Jr. enter a wide open 3 after a mark. In the second quarter, the Lakers again failed to equalize after a made basket, and Russell’s man, Jaylen Wells, knocked down an open 3 in the corner.
Through eight games, Los Angeles is 4-4, but has allowed 118.8 points per 100 possessions, the third-worst mark in the league. They have allowed 21.3 fast break points per 100 possessions, which ranks last. When it comes to transition defense, their numbers on Cleaning The Glass are terrifying: Not only are they allowing opponents to run at high frequency, but they’re giving up by far the most transition points of any team in this league. season, or any other season in the database, dating back to 2003-04.
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The Lakers began the season by winning at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings. The loss at Memphis concluded a five-game road trip in which they finished 1-4, including a 24-point loss at Cleveland and a 12-point loss at Detroit. Anthony Davis missed the Grizzlies game but was available for everyone else. While the strong start may have been deceptive, Los Angeles’ transition defense probably shouldn’t be the worst. ever.
“Every night you can choose how to play and it has nothing to do with making shots,” Redick said. “There has to be a group of people (seven, eight guys) that make that decision, and we are a really good basketball team. If we have a handful, if we have two or three, we are not going to be a good basketball team that night .So that’s the reality. I mean, that’s my biggest takeaway. [from the road trip]to be honest.”
However, making shots remains a problem. James made 6 of his 11 3-point attempts in Memphis, but the rest of the team was a combined 9 of 37. Only two teams have attempted 3-pointers less frequently this season, according to Cleaning The Glass, and the Lakers rank 25th in both caught. Three-point and free throw percentage and open three-point percentage, according to nba.com. When they return home to face the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday and the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, they have a variety of issues to resolve.
