LeBron James didn\u2019t play<\/a>, and so the 41-year-old star avoided adding a third injury to the pile. How has Redick stayed focused on the task at hand with minimal star power available, keeping the Lakers focused on the big picture \u2013 identifying nine players for Redick\u2019s playoff rotation \u2013 before an increasingly likely matchup against the currently fifth-seeded Houston Rockets?<\/p>\n\u201cTask,\u201d Redick said Tuesday night. \u201cJust focused on the task, so my preparation doesn\u2019t change. My messaging changes throughout the season, but it\u2019s trying to get the team to the right point to go compete and play a basketball game and make the adjustments that we need to make, and find the guys that are able to do it that night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Redick has said the run up to the playoffs, which will begin April 18 or 19 for the Lakers, is a great opportunity to figure out who will fill out the team\u2019s minutes beyond James, Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton come the playoffs.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, however, some of those likely shoo-ins for the Lakers\u2019 nine-man playoff rotation earned less-than-positive comments from their coach after the loss.<\/p>\n
Forward Rui Hachimura earned an early hook due to a blown defensive assignment. Redick said Hachimura didn\u2019t do his job so he removed him. Forward Jarred Vanderbilt played just five minutes after spatting with Redick during a second-quarter huddle when the coach pulled the 27-year-old role player due to a \u201cconfluence of things.\u201d Ayton had just three points and three rebounds in 23 minutes, days after his coach said Ayton was going to receive touches he hasn\u2019t had during the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n
Redick said Tuesday that his 7-footer has had plenty of plays called for him, but that he\u2019s struggling to hold onto the basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just had trouble catching the ball,\u201d Redick said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s the passing or if it\u2019s, you know, him trying to get position, he just, he hasn\u2019t been able to catch the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the reality of the present-day Lakers. Luke Kennard, who has transitioned from primarily a 3-point threat off the bench into the team\u2019s primary ballhandler since the injuries to Doncic and Reaves, said after Tuesday\u2019s loss that the team has shifted from \u201criding on a high\u201d to a day-by-day approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cChemistry was high,\u201d Kennard said. \u201cWe were really close as a group, and it still is. I feel like this might have brought us even closer. Obviously, it\u2019s a different look out there on the court and different voices, but it was definitely a shock and something we weren\u2019t expecting this late in the year going into the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennard said when players such as Doncic \u2013 who is in Europe attempting to expedite his recovery \u2013 and Reaves are unavailable, it naturally persuades those who are available to build and nurture connections on the team.<\/p>\n
With three games remaining, those connections could pay dividends on the court as Redick crafts his postseason rotation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know we want to win, we want to do what it takes to win,\u201d Kennard said. \u201cWe have competitors in this locker room. When you have guys that\u2019ll do that and play hard every night, anything can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 JJ Redick said last week in Dallas that he doesn\u2019t have the luxury of overreacting.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,6,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-706079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-la","10":"tag-la-lakers","11":"tag-lakers","12":"tag-lalakers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangeleslakers","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116371607182054983","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}