The Dallas Mavericks recently faced the Los Angeles Lakers at the American Airlines Center. Notably, they were without their star players, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Despite this setback, the Mavericks won the game with a final score of 118-97. Additionally, Lakers head coach JJ Redick expressed his disappointment with the loss.
During the post-game press conference, Redick praised the Mavericks’ performance by saying, “They killed us.” Moreover, during the discussion, he also reflected on several moments where the Lakers players seemed let down on the court.
“They made some tough twos and there was a bunch of times we didn’t contain the basketball well. And our basic shell, day one (defence), just wasn’t good… We played fine in the first half like it was fine. And then they start the second half on a run, we cut it five and then they made four straight threes. I’m not sure what our rotations were,” Redick said. “I’ve never seen us try to execute what we were doing. I haven’t watched the film yet. Just watching it live and talking to the assistants who did watch it on film, we’re not sure what was going on with the shift positioning and the rotations. Never seen it before.“
The Lakers ended the first quarter with a three-point lead. However, the Mavericks dominated the second and third quarters. By the end of the third quarter, the Mavericks scored 89, while the Lakers were at 76. Fans hoped for a strong comeback from the Lakers in the fourth quarter, but the opposite occurred. The Lakers ultimately lost the game, with a final score of 118-97.
JJ Redick Offers Thoughts On Jaden Hardy’s Performance
Jaden Hardy stepped up impressively in the absence of both Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, showcasing his ability to take on a larger role. During the third quarter, he energized the crowd with a dynamic shooting display, hitting several key shots that shifted the momentum of the game.
Hardy scored 15 points, recorded two assists, and grabbed three rebounds, demonstrating his efficiency by shooting 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. In the post-game interview, a reporter asked Redick about how players could cover plays like the ones Hardy executed against them.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NBA stories via Google! Follow Us
Jaden Hardy and the @dallasmavs are on FIRE from deep 🔥
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 8, 2025
Four-straight triples to go up 15! pic.twitter.com/2hHrKh0AXV
“There’s two things that you can do. One is you stay with your own man. So, they were trying to lift (Anthony Davis) and have him be the high guy and then they would cut him out of there. You can stay with your own and the next guy becomes the shift guy or you can just zone up and you take cutters. We did neither. Again, I’ve never seen that coverage before,” Redick said.
Following their recent loss to the Mavericks, the Lakers are currently in 6th place in the Western Conference standings, with a record of 20 wins and 16 losses for the 2024-25 NBA season. Their next game will be against the Charlotte Hornets at Crypto.com Arena.
