The Los Angeles Lakers have gone back where they started, finishing their road-trip with a woeful 1-4 record, going 4-4 in the season after losing the Memphis Grizzlies, 131-114. Without Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura, the team kept it close at first, thanks mostly to LeBron James’ sizzling first half performance. However, the Grizzlies went on a run in the third quarter. and never looked back, leading by as many as 20 points in the fourth. Even rookie Lakers coach JJ Redick benched D’Angelo Russell for stinking it up on the court, while his backcourt partner Austin Reaves made a tough admission after the Grizzlies beat them.
“Austin Reaves said he and Russell both need to be better to help LeBron especially when Davis is out,” via Lakers beat reporter Mike Trudell on X, formerly Twitter. “He noted the frustration from the road trip not going how the team wanted, and the motivation to turn it back around on Friday.”
The Lakers reset
Losing to the Grizzlies to cap off their first road trip just showed the importance of Anthony Davis to the Lakers’ operation, as Austin Reaves mentioned. Additionally, since Redick made AD the team’s offensive centerpiece, the big man has scored over 30 points in all but one of the games he has played so far.
Still, the rest of the team can pick up the scoring load when he doesn’t play. What they couldn’t replace, though, was Davis’ monstrous defensive presence.
Without The Brow, the Lakers gave up 131 points to the Grizzlies, and they couldn’t take advantage of Ja Morant leaving the game in the third due to a hamstring injury.
The Grizz’ shooting won them the game, too, indicating several defensive mistakes on the perimeter, which begins with Reaves and D’Angelo Russell. Both guards were never lockdown defenders to begin with, but it doesn’t excuse lapses in concentration or poor effort.
Benching
Asked about why he sat D’Lo for the final 17 minutes of the game, Redick was forthcoming.
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“Level of compete. Attention to detail. Some of the things we’ve talked with him about a couple of weeks,” the rookie coach said, via Daniel Starkand of Lakers Nation. “At times he’s been really good, other times it’s just reverting to certain habits.”
Yet the coach insisted that the benching wasn’t some kind of disciplinary action against his starting point guard.
“It wasn’t like a punishment, but for us to have a chance to win this game,” he continued. “That was the route we wanted to take. Gabe in the first half, especially defensively, was fantastic. I just wanted to see what that looked like.”
Perhaps this move would make it easier for the Lakers to package D’Lo in a deal for another big man and a two-way guard–two of the Lakers’ biggest roster needs. Still, Lakers fans should expect a rocky road ahead for a rookie head coach trying to steer a flawed team into the postseason.