The Lakers have discovered their chief.
After Mike Brown and Mike D’Antonio, after Byron Scott and Luke Walton, after Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham, they’ve discovered their chief.
The revolving door to the coach’s workplace has lastly stopped. JJ Redick is what the Lakers hoped he can be, and perhaps much more.
The Lakers improved to 37-21 on Friday night time with a 106-102 victory over the Clippers at Imaginary-Cash-dot-com Area, however this isn’t nearly their report.
They’re in fourth place within the Western Convention and are positioned to maneuver into second earlier than the top of the common season, however this isn’t nearly their place within the standings.
That is about how they play. That is about tradition.
The gamers are shopping for what their rookie coach is promoting, and, out of the blue, the Lakers are taking part in higher protection than any staff within the NBA.
Who would have imagined, the Lakers holding their final six opponents to 102 or fewer factors within the wake of parting methods with their two finest defenders within the Luka Doncic commerce.
“That’s just us,” LeBron James stated. “I mean, it’s who we are at this point.”
Redick has jolted the Lakers the way in which Sean McVay did the Rams. Redick has made the Lakers a mirrored image of his persona the way in which Jim Harbaugh did with the Chargers.
Nearly 60 video games into Redick’s first season, the Lakers know who they’re, and the way typically has that been stated about them within the post-Phil Jackson years?
There was no assure Redick can be any totally different than Ham or Walton, the 2 different rookie coaches the Lakers employed lately.
Redick’s appointment invited skepticism, and rightly so. Redick wasn’t Dan Hurley, whom the Lakers needed to rent. Redick had no teaching or administration expertise above the youth degree. He was smug in a approach that frauds typically are, and he was caught with principally the identical roster that sank Ham. He seemed like a Hail Mary.
Effectively, the Lakers’ prayers have been answered, because the pretty-boy coach launched a hard-nosed, switch-heavy type to a franchise related to Showtime.
“Defensively is where we hang our hat,” James stated. “It’s going to give us a chance to win every night.”
The victory over the Clippers marked a four-day stretch by which the Lakers performed three video games, every of them a victory. They went into their sport in opposition to the Clippers with out Rui Hachimura, who was sidelined with a knee downside, and emerged from the competition with out Austin Reaves, who went down with a calf harm.
The win capped a 10-2 month for the Lakers.
“It’s a tough game to play and to win,” Doncic stated. “I think we showed our character today.”
Reaves and Hachimura may very well be out of the beginning lineup for a few weeks, maybe longer, however the win demonstrated how they may survive with out them.
“Our group, they competed, they found a way,” Redick stated. “It was a rock fight out there.”
Lakers guard Luka Doncic scores within the lane through the second half Friday night time within the win over the Clippers.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Occasions)
The Lakers have the league’s highest-rated protection over the past six weeks or so, and so they as soon as once more suffocated their opponents on Friday night time. Their bench was credited with 9 of their 14 steals, together with 4 by Gabe Vincent and three by Jordan Goodwin, who’s on a two-way contract.
“It takes a while for a group to develop an identity, takes a while for a group to develop a collective mentality,” Redick stated. “There’s been a lot of things that have happened this season. I felt like the group, our ecosystem, was created, and it’s been sustained since mid-January.”
He was notably happy with how his gamers continued to stay with the sport plan, which was to decelerate James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. Guard Kris Dunn burned them for 14 factors within the first half, however the Lakers didn’t waver. Dunn, who made six of seven photographs earlier than halftime, ultimately slowed down. Harden completed with 18 factors on five-of-22 taking pictures, together with certainly one of 10 on threes.
“I like who we are as a team right now,” Redick stated.
He’s not alone.
Late within the third quarter, one specific play by the Lakers drew a standing ovation, and it wasn’t a dunk by James or a 3 by Doncic.
On the sequence in query, Vanderbilt poked the ball away from Harden and threw himself on the court docket to get better it.
That is the most recent incarnation of Lakers basketball. That is JJ Redick basketball, and it is going to be round for the foreseeable future.
