The Los Angeles Lakers were handled on Christmas day by the Houston Rockets, and no one was more outraged by the performance than Lakers head coach JJ Redick.
Redick recently went off on the quality NBA officiating during a post-game presser, but on Thursday, the second-year head coach turned his ire in the direction of his own players.
“It’s a matter of making the choice (to play hard),” Redick said. “And too often we have guys who don’t wanna make that choice. It’s pretty consistent who those guys are, and so, Saturday’s practice … is gonna be uncomfortable … I’m not doing another 53 games like this.”
Redick’s comments went viral on social media, with plenty of people criticizing Redick for pointing the finger at his players without acknowledging his own part in the Lakers’ failures.
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ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins, never one to shy away from a hot take or confrontation, didn’t hesitate to blast Redick.
“It’s always somebody else’s fault,” Perkins said. “It’s never JJ Redick’s fault. … Why are they not playing hard? Why are they not trying to compete on the defensive side of things? You’re the coach. That’s a reflection of you.”
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“When your team is not responding and going out there and competing at a high level defensively and playing hard, that’s saying that they’re not listening or that they somewhat lack respect for you,” Perkins continued. “So it’s got to be a level of accountability all across the board. … He needs to be addressing the best two players on the team, and that’s LeBron James and Luka Dončić, for their lack of (consistency and) lack of leadership that they’re displaying right now.”
Featured image via Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn Images
