LOS ANGELES — When the NBA made the schedule adjustments to accommodate the Lakers’ games that were postponed in January because of the Southern California wildfires, they knew this past week would be challenging.
Six games in eight days.
Three consecutive back-to-back sets, which started with road losses to the Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets on March 13 and March 14, respectively, to close a four-game trip.
With Thursday’s home loss to the Bucks, in which the Lakers were without four of their regular starters, the Lakers sealed a 3-3 record in the stretch of consecutive back-to-backs – something the team felt good about within the context of the schedule.
The Lakers were originally scheduled to host the Bucks on Tuesday.
But after the postponed Jan. 11 matchup against the San Antonio Spurs was moved to Monday – a game the Lakers won on the second night of a back-to-back after hosting the Phoenix Suns on Sunday afternoon – the game against the Bucks was also moved to later in the week.
“Big picture … feel good that you go 3-3 in this stretch,” Redick said. “It was going to be tough no matter what. The added game made it harder. I don’t think the game that exists today in the NBA and the modern NBA player is like [built to do this]. I wouldn’t be either if this was what I came up in and this was the game that I had to play every night. It’s different than when I first started.
“You’re not built to play six games in eight nights. The game doesn’t allow you to play six games in eight nights. It’s just impossible. That’s why we, I don’t think, have four in five anymore.”
The NBA stopped scheduling four games in five nights beginning with the 2022-23 season.
But with the NBA needing to shift around the schedule during an already compact time of the season, the Lakers dealt with a scheduling rarity.
“What our guys just went through, it’s difficult,” Redick added. “And the old-heads are gonna talk about how physical it was in the [1980s] and [1990s] and that’s fine. But the level of physicality in our game and the way that the court has to be covered and all the movement, it’s tough. And I’m just glad to be on the other side of it and hopefully going forward we are healthy and can make a push here.”
Making this stretch worse was the Lakers’ lack of available players.
Only rookie wing Dalton Knecht and two-way contract guard Jordan Goodwin played in all six games since March 13.
Austin Reaves sat out Thursday’s game and Luka Doncic missed two of the previous six games.
Starting forwards LeBron James (strained left groin) and Rui Hachimura (left patellar tendinopathy) were already sidelined before the six games in eight days. Hachimura has missed 10 consecutive games while James has missed seven.
The Lakers close their five-game homestand on Saturday night against the Chicago Bulls.
“We did good,” Knecht said. “Some of us got banged up during that road trip and all these back-to-backs. But I think all of us were going out there fighting every single game.”
BULLS AT LAKERS
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/radio: Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM
