JJ Redick makes sobering admission about Lakers in loss to Magic
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The Los Angeles Lakers, to say the least, haven’t been playing very good basketball over the past few games. In fact, they have now lost their third game in a row, all by double digits, as they fell to the Orlando Magic, 118-106, on Monday night. The second half of their loss to the Magic was eerily similar to the second half of their defeat to the Chicago Bulls over the weekend — with the Lakers squad simply running out of steam on the defensive end.
All Lakers head coach JJ Redick could do is admit that the team is struggling defensively, urging his team to clean up their mistakes on that end of the floor.
“We’re going through it a little bit. We gotta get back in the flow and the rhythm,” Redick said in his postgame presser, via Spectrum SportsNet on X (formerly Twitter). “As the game wore on… we were very much passive when we switched onto the ball.”
“We weren’t able to sustain the level of intensity we started the game with.”
JJ Redick speaks with @LakersReporter and the media after tonight’s loss to the Orlando Magic. Don’t forget, catch live Lakers games on Spectrum SportsNet+ with the NBA app, on us!
:… pic.twitter.com/AYR8dReoX0— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 25, 2025
With there being 11 games remaining in the regular season, there is a great sense of urgency for the Lakers to figure things out — especially when their playoff seeding is on the line. Nonetheless, Redick believes that there is time for them to right the ship.
“I think there is time but we’ve gotta be very strategic about how we use that time outside of games,” Redick added.
Lakers look to right the ship defensively
The Lakers have more than made up for the team’s lack of size on the interior by playing some suffocating and swarming defense. This was in full display in a signature win over the Denver Nuggets in late February when they blew out the Nikola Jokic-led team that’s been giving them problems ever since.
There was a palpable sense of lethargy for the Lakers on Monday; the Magic got plenty of runway on lazy switches from the Purple and Gold, and they simply were unable to get into a sense of rhythm on both ends of the floor in the second half.
The stretch ahead remains very unforgiving for the Lakers. They will still be on the road later this week, and they have a back-to-back set against the Indiana Pacers and Bulls on Wednesday/Thursday. Rest and practice days will be scarce from now until the end of the regular season, but it’s a must for the Lakers to do whatever it takes to get their defense back up and running to where it was prior to LeBron James’ injury.
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