J.J. Redick ’embarrassed’ after 41-point loss to Heat, but Lakers issues mostly about roster

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First, the problem was Frank Vogel. Then it was Russell Westbrook. Then it was Darvin Ham.

Now the spotlight is on new coach J.J. Redick who understandably said, “I’m embarrassed. We’re all embarrassed” after the Lakers lost their last two games by a combined 70 points — the worst two-game stretch in franchise history — with the second of those games being a 41-point blowout loss to Miami Wednesday night.

It’s not just the last two games. The Lakers are 2-6 in their previous eight with a bottom-four offense and defense in the league in that stretch. LeBron James had been in a shooting slump but broke out of it against the Heat — 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting, and he hit his first 3-pointer in five games — however, Anthony Davis continues to struggle of late. AD has has averaged 18 points a game in his last seven (down from more than 33 points a game prior to that) and is shooting 15% from 3 over that stretch. All those numbers don’t even do the eye test justice — the Lakers’ stars and role players have looked unfocused, and the effort level has been low for a couple of weeks.

Coach J.J. Redick tried to take “ownership” of the issue with some honest comments after the latest loss. Here are his quotes, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

“We’re having trouble right now on both ends with, like, base-level game-plan stuff. It’s odd. It’s very odd…

“Has to be some ownership. You can splinter, and it’s easy to not want the ownership, particularly when it’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed. We’re all embarrassed. It’s not a game that I thought we had the right fight, the right professionalism… There has to be some ownership on the court, and I’ll take all the ownership in the world.

It isn’t just Redick taking responsibility.

LeBron James: “When you’re individually f—ing up and you’re trying to rely on everybody else to cover for you, I think it starts with individuals first. All of us have to take accountability” pic.twitter.com/br1npBVo2W

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 5, 2024

For my money, Redick has been an upgrade as a coach over Ham — he’s tried to move the Lakers away from LeBron (or Austin…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/j-j-redick-embarrassed-41-172817124.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2024-12-05 17:28:00

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