The Los Angeles Lakers secured a top-four seed in the mighty Western Conference with a 101-73 win over the Phoenix Suns on Friday.
That’s quite an accomplishment for a team ravaged by injuries all year, with Luka Doncic (17), Austin Reaves (30), LeBron James (32) and Marcus Smart (19) all missing a significant amount of games throughout the season. Due to the injuries, Lakers head coach JJ Redick used his 25th different starting unit of the season on Friday.
With the Lakers guaranteeing themselves home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, Redick used the opportunity to call out critics.
“I know none of you guys had us in the top four to start the season,” Redick said.
“That’s just the reality. Most people had us as a play-in team, or even worse.”
Were Lakers Overlooked?
“We’ve had to manage the expectations of the Lakers and also the negativity that just naturally surrounds every loss,” Redick continued.
“And I think our group has managed that well.”
Further to Redick’s point, several analysts viewed the Lakers as a middling team that would struggle to secure a guaranteed playoff berth. While an ESPN analytics-based simulation predicted the Lakers would finish with a 36-46 record and miss the playoffs, CBS Sports’ Colin Ward-Henninger had the Lakers ranked 11th in his list of title contenders, shockingly behind teams such as the Orlando Magic and LA Clippers.
Also worth noting is that sportsbooks such as BetMGM set the Lakers’ over/under win totals at 46.5, behind teams such as the Atlanta Hawks, Magic and Clippers.
Contrary to those projections, the Lakers are primed to finish with a 53-29 record after their inevitable win against the lottery-bound Utah Jazz in Sunday’s season finale.
JJ Redick Proud of Lakers
Redick expressed how proud he is of his team for securing home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs — despite the sea of injuries and chemistry issues they faced throughout the year.
“I’m extremely proud of our team, our players, and our coaches for dealing with the entire NBA season,” Redick stressed.
“..I think for maybe one or two teams a year, they don’t have a lot of ups and downs, and their rollercoaster is fairly flat, but for almost every team in the NBA, your ability to bounce back from failure is the key to the aggregation of what your season is.
“…To clinch home court and to win 52 games, possibly 53 games, deal with the amount of adversity we had. … It’s a credit to our players. It’s a credit to our staff for just persevering and just keeping our head down and doing the work.”
The Lakers will secure the third seed on Sunday if they can beat the Utah Jazz and the Denver Nuggets lose to the San Antonio Spurs. In such a scenario, the Lakers will face the Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs instead of the Rockets.
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