The Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated from the NBA Playoffs last Wednesday night by the Minnesota Timberwolves in a gentleman’s sweep on the heels of a monster performance from Rudy Gobert, who dominated the boards with 24 rebounds and poured in a playoff career-high 27 points.
The Lakers made it interesting with a strong third-quarter performance that saw them briefly take the lead, but there was no Hollywood ending in sight. The ball club only scored 16 points in the fourth, culminating in a 103-96 loss.
Advertisement
The small-ball lineup set forth by first-year Lakers head coach JJ Redick was no match for the surging center, whose performance now has Minnesota moving on to the next round. Former ESPN colleagues Kendrick Perkins and Brian Windhorst criticized Redick’s coaching decision not to start a center or at least put in Jaxon Hayes in a critical Game 5 elimination situation.
Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick speaks to media before a game two of first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena.© Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
Even after bolstering the roster with superstar Luka Doncic and earning the No. 3 seed in the West, Redick offered this reasoning in his postgame presser following their first-round exit: “We played 13 games with our playoff rotation…these things take time. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
Fans on X were quick to point out the hypocrisy of the excuse resurfacing an ESPN “First Take” segment from 2024 when JJ Redick was a studio analyst.
Advertisement
In the clip, he criticized Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers after the Bucks’ first-round exit in the 2023-2024 NBA Playoffs a year ago, stating, “There’s always an excuse, there’s never accountability with that guy.”
There is no doubt a long catalog of Redick’s outspoken analyst takes that will reemerge as he continues his budding NBA head coaching career.
Related: Lakers HC JJ Redick Sends Clear Message on Dwight Howard News