Photo credit: Bleacher Report
Following the Los Angeles Lakers’ 119-118 home defeat to the Orlando Magic on Thursday night, Lakers head coach JJ Redick provided some insight into how he copes with losses.
While speaking to reporters after the game, Redick was asked about how he deals with the ebbs and flows of the season now that he is a coach, particularly when the results are negative (beginning at the four-minute mark of the video).
“I go to a very dark place. Literally,” Redick said. “It’s the basement. I turn the lights out and I watch film.”
That strategy has largely worked out well for Redick during his inaugural season as an NBA head coach, as he has the Lakers in fourth place in the highly competitive Western Conference at 10-5.
Prior to being named the Lakers’ head coach during the offseason, Redick had no previous coaching experience at the professional, collegiate or even high school levels, although he was long viewed as a potential future coach during his playing days due to his understanding of the game.
One thing working in Redick’s favor was his strong relationship with Lakers superstar LeBron James, as they briefly had a podcast together called Mind the Game before Redick was hired by the Lakers.
Redick and James have seemingly had great synergy during their first season together, and Anthony Davis is also a huge part of the equation.
Despite Thursday’s loss, bot AD and LeBron turned in huge efforts with Davis leading all scorers in the game with 39 points to go along with nine rebounds, while James had 31 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Redick has also gotten a lot out of the Lakers’ role players, and there is perhaps no better example than rookie first-round pick Dalton Knecht, who chipped in 17 points after pouring in a career-high 37 points in the Lakers’ previous game.
While there were plenty of positives to take away from Thursday’s contest, including shooting 50.6 percent from the field, the Lakers clearly have some areas they need to work on as well.
The Lakers were out-rebounded 48-36 on the night, but perhaps most importantly, there was a massive disparity at the free-throw line.
Orlando made 18 of its 21 free throws, hitting at an 85.7 percent clip, but the Lakers went just 17-of-26, which equates to 65.4 percent.
Given that Redick is the ninth-best free-throw shooter in NBA history at 89.2 percent, it stands to reason that the charity stripe may be a huge area of emphasis for him while watching film of Thursday’s loss, and leading up to Saturday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets.
