EL SEGUNDO — Lakers coach JJ Redick initially critiqued his team’s “spirit to compete” in Saturday night’s home loss to the Denver Nuggets – specifically during a third quarter in which they were outscored 37-15.
And after watching film of the game ahead of practice on Monday, Redick felt the same way.
“We just stopped playing,” Redick said on Monday.
Redick made sure to emphasize that what he saw from his team in that game-deciding third quarter was an “aberration” from the standpoints of energy and competitive spirit.
“We can all be better,” Redick responded when asked what he and the coaching staff can do to prevent those issues from repeating themselves. “The organization has to be there and really there’s only so much we can do. 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.
“And that’s an aberration to me. We’ve been punched in the mouth so much in games. We’ve been down and came back, we’ve started slow, we’ve started strong. We’ve had adversity in nearly every game. To me, that stretch of the third quarter was an aberration. That’s not who we are. And I reiterated that to the team this [on Monday morning]. We showed them who we are on tape. It’s not like a thing that weighed on me much.”
What hasn’t been an aberration is the Lakers losing in the more physical parts of games, especially defensive rebounding.
The Lakers, who rank No. 26 in defensive rebounding percentage at 68%, came down with just 65.9% of their defensive rebounding opportunities in the loss to the Nuggets and Thursday night’s loss to the Orlando Magic.
Which makes Tuesday’s NBA Cup Group Play matchup against the Phoenix Suns a perfect opportunity for the Lakers, who have been the more physical of the two teams in their two previous matchups this season.
The Lakers rallied to beat the Suns on Oct. 25 at Crypto.com Arena, and the Suns beat the Lakers on Oct. 28 in Phoenix.
“When you go back and watch the two regular-season games, we were really physical on the defensive end,” Redick said. “We did some stuff today to try to reignite that a little bit and that’s ultimately what you’re going to have to do. As a defense, holistically, if you don’t dictate the terms a little bit with them and just allow them freedom, they’re just too good. So, we’ve got to be physical with them.”
Part of the Lakers reigniting the physicality involved playing five-on-five during Monday’s practice.
“If you watch basketball for a long time, the teams that are ‘physical defensive teams’ might get away with a little more just cause every possession you can’t call a foul,” guard Austin Reaves said. “We’re trying to get to that where we’re physical every possession and we’re going to have to make the refs call fouls. Our personnel isn’t, we’re going to be honest with ourselves, isn’t the best, defensively. Obviously we got [Anthony Davis]. That covers up a lot. But we have to be physical out on the perimeter and especially when boxing out. We got to be a better, defensive rebounding team and transition as well.”
HAYES TO RETURN
Backup center Jaxson Hayes is expected to return to the court on Tuesday after missing the previous six games because of a sprained left ankle.
“Felt good,” Hayes said after practice. “Working out and playing on it the past four or five days. Just trying to get it all the way back to normal. So it’s feeling the best it’s felt yet.”
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Hayes added: “Definitely be back [Tuesday].
Christian Koloko, who is signed to a two-way contract, was the primary backup big man while Hayes was sidelined.
“Christian did really good,” Hayes said. “I thought he stepped up. He was ready. He’d been out rehabbing like the whole summer and I think it was even before that, last year. So the fact that he was able to come in and step up like that and play big minutes and just like anchor down. He’s playing great on the defensive end getting lots of blocks, rebounds and just playing where he needed to play and just playing filling that role.”
LAKERS AT SUNS (NBA Cup Group Play)
When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Where: Footprint Center, Phoenix
TV/radio: TNT/710 AM