Redick praises LeBron, rips others’ lack of effort in Lakers’ loss..

MEMPHIS — After the Grizzlies’ 131-114 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, Memphis’Desmond Bane crashed teammateScotty Pippen Jr.’s on-court interview to praise him for stealing the ball from LeBron James, as Pippen closed the game out at point after Ja Morant exited with a right hamstring injury.

“See the way he snatched that ball from that old man over there?” Bane said while grabbing Pippen by the shoulders.

Over in losing locker room, Lakers coach JJ Redick used that “old man” as an example of how the rest of L.A.’s roster should play.

“I think LeBron was fantastic tonight,” Redick said after James scored a season-high 39 points on 15-for-24 shooting with the Lakers missing two starters in Anthony Davis (left heel contusion) and Rui Hachimura (illness). “Biggest thing that stood out. … He played hard. Almost 40 years old and played the hardest on our team. It says a lot about him.”

And it said a lot about the rest of this L.A. team that ended its five-game road trip with another loss to go 1-4 overall and fall to 4-4 on the season.

During Redick’s postgame remarks, the first-year coach was asked how he would address the perceived lack of effort with his team.

“I just did,” Redick said, plopping the microphone on the table in front of him to end the news conference.

As Redick made his way out of the room, he shouted back at reporters, “First thing I said to them.”

Redick began delivering the message by the way he distributed playing time.

He doled out just six minutes in the second half toD’Angelo Russell– and a season-low 22 minutes in total — as the coach mixed up his rotation to try to find a spark.

“Just level of compete, attention to detail, some of the things we’ve talked with him about for a couple of weeks,” Redick said when asked why he limited Russell’s role in Memphis. “And at times, he’s been really good with that stuff. And other times, it’s just reverting back to certain habits. But it wasn’t like a punishment. It just felt for us to have a chance to win this game, that was the route we wanted to take.”

Russell finished with 12 points on 4-for-12 shooting (2-for-9 from 3), but he was hardly the only L.A. player to struggle against the Grizzlies. Dalton Knecht, making his first career start in place of Hachimura, shot 1-for-7, with all of his takes coming beyond the 3-point arc. Austin Reaves scored 19 but was just 2-for-9 from 3. Gabe Vincent, who was the beneficiary of Russell’s reduced minutes, was 2-for-8 overall and 1-for-6 from 3.

James, who became just the sixth player in league history to reach 1,500 career games on Wednesday, was asked about Redick’s claim about effort.

“At the end of the day, especially when you lose bodies, you got to compete,” said James, who was matched up defensively with 6-foot-10 power forwardJaren Jackson Jr.for much of the night. “You got to compete even harder. You got to be out there giving it everything that you got and on both ends. I think there were times that we did that, but the majority of the time, I don’t think we sustained energy and effort.”

It was the second loss on the trip in which L.A. allowed 130-plus points, as the Lakers have plummeted to 28th in defensive efficiency in the NBA, allowing 118.8 points per 100 possessions.

“We got to compete, and we got to defend,” James said. “We gave up 50% shooting, and they shot the 3 ball well. They got into the paint. They got offensive rebounds. They got second-chance points. And they had some transition points, as well.

“So, it wasn’t too much of the offense, even though we didn’t shoot the ball well. We got to do a better job of that. But defense, we got to hang our hat on that too.”

Related Posts

NBA Players React To Dwyane Wade’s Heartfelt Instagram Post..

Dwyane Wade is one of the best shooting guards in NBA history. The Miami Heat legend recently had a statue unveiled outside of the team’s arena. Wade made a heartfelt post to…

Gabrielle Union gets blasted after announcing departure from X: ‘Nobody gives a f–k’..

Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade’s wife Gabrielle Union announced on Friday that she is leaving the social media platform X. X has seen a number of users leave…

Adebayo scores 30 to propel Heat past Pacers 124-111..

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Bam Adebayo scored 30 points and had 11 rebounds and the Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers 124-111 on Friday night in NBA Cup…

Miami Heat’s Tyler Herro Serves As Pitchman For Reveal Of New “Blood Red” Culture Jerseys..

On Thursday, the Miami Heat released the latest edition of their “Culture” jersey. The newest version is named “Blood Red.” The team posted it on the official…

Draymond Green Praises Stephen Curry’s Performance Against Klay Thompson..

Klay Thompson made his return to Golden State on Tuesday night. His former Splash Bros partner was more than ready. Tuesday night’s matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden…

Klay Thompson’s Defiant Message After Antics Backfire Against Steph Curry..

The fans were treated to a vintage Steph Curry performance on Tuesday night as the former back-to-back MVP led the Golden State Warriors to a 120-117 victory against the Dallas Mavericks. Curry…