LeBron James’ on-court conduct with his opponenets caused Lakers coach JJ Redick to call him out in Los Angeles’ double-digit loss to the Phoenix Suns in front of a home crowd
JJ Redick was less than pleased to see LeBron James fraternizing with Phoenix Suns players(Image: X: @NBALakersReport)
JJ Redick was less-than-pleased with LeBron James’ actions during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 128-105 blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Though James extended his streak of scoring 10 or more points in a game, the Lakers looked lifeless in front of a home crowd in Los Angeles. The Lakers also have been reintegrating James back into the lineup, especially with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves leading Los Angeles during James’ absence.
Now, a moment between Redick and James has been brought to the forefront. The interaction came before Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo’s social media purge, which has left fans pondering his future.
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With under one minute to go in the third quarter and the Lakers down 94-73, Redick attempted to get James’ attention as Los Angeles attempted to run a play for the NBA star. As the Lakers brought up the ball, the head coach could be heard yelling “Bron!” on the broadcast.
Instead, James was talking with members of the Suns bench as Redick called his name. Seeing his star disengaged during the play, Redick burned a timeout to get James’ head back in the game as Los Angeles hoped to make it a more manageable deficit.
As players walked back to their respective benches, James continued to talk with Phoenix’s players, leading Redick to just shake his head in what ultimately was a double-digit loss.
JJ Redick and the Los Angeles Lakers are reintegrating LeBron James back after his return from sciatica(Image: Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
After the game, Redick did his best to explain what happened in the Lakers’ 17-point loss to the Suns. “You know, I talked about it before the game to you guys and to the team. If you don’t play hard against that team, you’re going to get exposed,” Redick explained to reporters.
“Multiple times in the first half, we have a numbers advantage in transition on the defensive end, and guys just run by us. You know, we talked about matching their physicality. Didn’t didn’t do that to any extent at any point in the game.” Redick also believed that the Lakers’ schedule played a part in the lackadaisical performance of his team.
“Maybe there’s brain fog from [three games in four nights],” the 41-year-old posited. “I don’t know. I don’t remember ever talking about going under versus lasers and Collin Gillespie’s making 3s and Royce O’Neal’s making threes going on.”
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So flustered was Redick by his team’s poor play that he believed the basketball team Michael Jordan faced in Space Jam had somehow influenced Los Angeles.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Redick continued to reporters after the loss. “It’s a weird it’s a weird sort of thing. It really is. It’s like it’s like the Monstars taking over the people that you’ve grown to coach and they’re not doing anything that they normally do. It’s weird.”
Meanwhile, James downplayed the loss to the Suns, stating that the Lakers will have other chances to turn things around with more than 60 games remaining this season. “Obviously, we have an opportunity to change pitches and switch pitches, but we go with what’s working,” the 40-year-old said.
“Obviously, we didn’t play our brand of basketball the way we wanted to play, so it’s just one game. We don’t get too crazy.”