The Los Angeles Lakers had everything going for them in the first half of their game against the Denver Nuggets. But in the second half, head coach JJ Redick saw LeBron James and his teammates get blown out by Nikola Jokic and his teammates.
That ensured the men in purple and gold had a disastrous 1-13 record against the Nuggets. Their Kryptonite team beat them again, despite not having Aaron Gordon on the floor. The Lakers brought in JJ Redick to figure out how to beat this team.
They implemented his game plan well in the first half and were up by double-digits close to the end of the first half. Then in the third quarter, the Denver Nuggets blitzed them and finished the quarter 37-15.
Redick, when asked what specifically went wrong in that quarter which flipped the game on its head, said that the team stopped competing.
We just stopped playing. I can joystick it as much as I want. But if you’re not competing and you’re not playing and just not participating in the game, there’s not a whole lot I can do. That’s an aberration to me. To me, that stretch of the third quarter was an aberration. That’s not who we are.
JJ Redick said
JJ Redick with a blunt assessment on the 2nd half vs DEN: “I can joystick it [as a coach] as much as I want, but if you’re not competing and you’re not playing and just not participating in the game, there’s not a whole lot I can do.” He added that it was an “aberration” by LAL pic.twitter.com/ZjFCyZv8QX
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 25, 2024
The head coach’s words suggest that James and his teammates stopped competing mid-way through the contest. That led to things going the Denver Nuggets’ way, who won the game with a score of 102-127.
The Lakers’ performance suggests that no matter how well Redick coaches his team, a lack of execution will result in such blowout wins. While Anthony Davis was one of the players who did not perform well, the team did struggle overall.
JJ Redick has forty games to figure out the Denver Nuggets solution
The Denver Nuggets may have won 13 of the past fourteen games, but all but one of them was when Darvin Ham was the head coach. Now with JJ Redick in charge, the score is 0-1. However, most of the team has been part of that horrendous losing streak.
If not for LeBron James and Anthony Davis’ heroics, the record would have been 0-14. However, Redick has time on his hands. There are forty games the Los Angeles Lakers have from now to their next meeting with the Nuggets.
In that time, the 40-year-old can study as much film as possible and take note of areas of improvement from games to formulate the best plan of action. The next game between the two is after the All-Star break in February.
Until that time, the Los Angeles Lakers need to figure out how to play better and most importantly, beat their Kryptonite. More importantly, Anthony Davis has to figure out how to beat Nikola Jokic.
