Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick held a meeting with his three stars LeBron James, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves on Saturday morning, the latter revealed.
The result was a galvanizing bounced-back 134-127 win over the Memphis Grizzlies to grab solo fourth in the West after a gut-wrenching loss in Chicago on Thursday.
The Lakers star trio combined for 85 points and 25 assists and each of them made big plays down the stretch to pull off what James described as a “must-win game,” according to Reaves, who led the team with 31 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.
Reaves pumped in nine points in the fourth quarter, where the Lakers buckled down to work to get ahead after a 113-113 deadlock.
“It means a lot to me [have the ball down the stretch] because me, ‘Bron and Luka and JJ met this morning and those are two — I mean obviously ‘Bron is the one that I grew up watching and then when Luka came in the league, he was one of my favorite players to watch — and for them to trust me in big situations is it builds my confidence a lot,” Reaves told Lakers sideline reporter Mike Trudell after the game.
JJ Redick Sheds Light on Lakers Big 3 Meeting
Redick’s message to the Lakers’ star trio was simple.
“We challenged all three of them when we get to their three-man actions to play with a little more force and a little more thrust and a little more creativity,” Redick told reporters.
“Without getting into the X’s and O’s, if we put you in an environment, don’t do the same thing every time. If we put you in an environment, make everything live, exhaust every option like allow us to call a set where all three of you are involved and then just exhaust every option so we can keep going back to it,” Redick elaborated.
As a result, three more Lakers players scored in double figures led by Rui Hachimura, who returned from a one-game absence with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Gabe Vincent and Dorian Finney-Smith combined for 26 points off the bench.
The ball movement led to 19 3-pointers and the Lakers had 30 assists.
‘They Make My Life Easy’
Dončić had 29 points with nine assists and eight rebounds. James scored 25 points, the most he’s had since he returned from a two-week absence due to a left groin strain, and added six rebounds and eight assists. They also combined for five steals.
“‘Bron and Luka are so good,” Reaves said. “They make my life easy. Unselfish players who like to play the game the right way, are unbelievable passers. So you just try to get the best outcome in every single possession. If we do that, locked into doing that, I feel like we can get a good shot every possession.
“So just having that creativity in whatever we’re running and just trusting it and trusting the pass is a big thing and I felt like we did that well.”
The win put the Lakers (45-29) ahead by one full game ahead of the Grizzlies (44-30) for the fourth seed, and pulled them 1.5 games back from the third seeded Denver Nuggets (47-28).
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Austin Reaves Reveals Details of Lakers Star Trio Meeting appeared first on Heavy Sports.