Questions about how he managed the second half of the match 4 seems to be a painful place for the head coach of Los Angeles Lakers JJ Redick.
The first year coach left a press conference on Wednesday before match 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves after a journalist questioned his team's lack of substitutions on Sunday, Sunday, A loss of 116-113 Lakers This prompted Redick's team to lower 3-1 in the series.
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Redick raised his eyebrows in match 4 when he played a single quintet of players – LeBron James, Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney -Smith – for the second half. Only one other player, Gabe Vincent, played more than seven minutes in the match. Los Angeles maintained a figure with a figure for most of the second half, but has won the section while Anthony Edwards pushed her total score at 43 points.
The journalist of the press conference specifically asked if Redick would consult an assistant coach on substitutions, a premise that the Lakers coach obviously found offensive.
Full exchange:
Journalist: “Looking at the film, as you remember with your process of thinking in the moment, by sticking with the five people with whom you stuck in the fourth quarter of the other day, and there is an assistant or someone you may lean this evening maybe to try to have other guys if this opportunity arises-“
Redick: “Are you saying that because I am inexperienced and it was an inexperienced decision that I made? Do you think that I do not speak to my assistants of substitutions at each dead time?”
Report: “No, I just think that many coaches rely on their assistants in these situations.”
Redick: “Like me, every time (break). It is a strange hypothesis.”
JJ Redick and the Lakers have their backs against the wall. (Photo by David Berding / Getty Images)
(David Berding via Getty Images)
That Redick has consulted his assistants in match 4, the lack of substitutions provided an easy -to -speak fodder after the match, for the two concerns concerning the fatigue of the Lakers and their lack of depth behind their two superstars in James and Dončić.
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Charles Barkley was among the many to unravel holes in the Lakers between matches 4 and 5And Redick's reaction will probably not help the image of a team on board, even if match 5 takes place.
Redick is in his first season as a Lakers chief coach, his first job as paid coach in basketball. Between the end of his player career in 2021 and his introduction with the Lakers, his involvement in basketball consisted of podcasting, the analysis of the games for ESPN and the basketball team for the young people of her son.
Despite the concerns about Redick's lack of experience, his first season saw an improvement in three victories for last year's Lakers. This season has also seen important personal challenges for Redick, whose rental house burned in the forest fires that rocked Los Angeles in January.
