JJ Redick was angry with himself after the Lakers' first loss. His players love passion

PHOENIX – As Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick talked about his team's 109-105 loss to the Phoenix Suns, he became increasingly agitated.

After answering his first question about what went wrong for the Lakers, who opened the game with a commanding 26-8 lead and appeared to be on the verge of starting the season 4-0 for most of the evening, Redick dropped the microphone on the podium and looked away for a few seconds.

He needed a moment. He was cooking.

At the next question, which tied into a schematic term Redick had used in his first answer – “fire,” which is another word for attacking a ballhandler defensively – Redick could only nod in agreement in response.

After the first official defeat of his coaching career, he was visibly distressed. And his players were thrilled.

“He said a nice little f-word that shows how much he cares,” Austin Reaves said of Redick’s message in the locker room after the game. “His passion is on another level. You can feel every single second of every day that he is committed to improving our group.”

When Redick talked about what it was like interviewing Devin Booker on his Old Man & The Three podcast, he referred to himself as ““a very special person” who is “obsessed” with everything in his life. If it wasn't obvious in the press conference, it was obvious on the sidelines, where Redick was often either calling offensive sets and defensive coverages or pacing manically and cursing under his breath (sometimes loudly). There is no off switch for the 40-year-old debut coach.

Redick's manic approach was one of the driving forces behind the Lakers hiring him to replace Darvin Ham. According to several players, including LeBron James and Anthony Davis, key voices in the locker room, Redick apologized to the team after the game for what he said were two mistakes – and then brought up the same mistakes in his postgame press conference.

“If there's one thing you can't shake, it's probably me,” Redick said.

He believed the Lakers could have “fired up” against Kevin Durant a possession or two earlier in crunch time. Durant (30 points) and Booker (33) torched the Lakers' perimeter defense by picking the smallest defender, often Gabe Vincent or D'Angelo Russell, and simply shooting over that player. Phoenix used this strategy to outscore Los Angeles 16-11 in the final 5:09 of the game.

“I definitely need to watch it, but in some ways it felt like we lost to Kevin Durant and Booker's ability to make tough twos,” Redick said.

He also blamed himself for the Lakers scoring 14 points in the second quarter, giving the Suns a two-point lead by halftime. Davis, who scored 16 points in the first quarter, scored just two in the second quarter as the Lakers' offense faltered due to anemic bench lineups.

“I have to make sure we have a good offense,” Redick said. “I felt like it was a bit coincidental. We’ve been slowed down.”

One odd aspect of the game that couldn't be blamed was James' uncharacteristically poor night. James finished the game with 11 points, barely maintaining his streak of 1,226 consecutive double-digit points streak. His 3-of-14 shooting night (21.4 percent) was his worst performance since October 31, 2007 – almost 17 years ago.

James was strangely passive at times and didn't have his typical drive or verve. Redick then defended his superstar's shot selection.

“We missed a lot of Paint 2s,” Redick said. “And for him, those are the shots he makes. In the fourth round he made this mistake on his left layup. I missed a couple of those one-legged shots that were right in the paint.”

James, whose voice was hoarse and nasal and who sniffled in front of his locker during his press conference, was asked how long he had been struggling with his symptoms. He said he had been feeling sick since Friday, which would mean he was dealing with an illness – which has spread throughout the team and led to second-year guard Jalen Hood-Schifino being given two last week I've missed games – and have already missed three games.

The loss overshadowed some bright spots for the Lakers. Their 26-8 opening period in the first 6:50 minutes of the game was arguably the most dominant they've seen on both ends of the court this season. Davis dominated the paint on both sides and essentially knocked Jusuf Nurkić off the floor. Rui Hachimura pursued Durant and blocked a shot. Reaves splashed in 3 seconds. James didn't even attempt a shot and the Lakers built a nearly 20-point lead.

Davis nearly had his fourth straight 30-plus point game to open the season, finishing with 29 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. Had he done so, he would have joined Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Kobe Bryant as the only Lakers to score at least 30 goals in the first four games of the season. Davis was named Western Conference Player of the Week in the first week of the season and is off to his best start with the Lakers.

Hachimura had his first double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds. He has now scored 18 or more points in three of four games and grabbed seven or more rebounds in three of four games. He was a reliable safety valve for the offense, knocking down open 3s, attacking the rim with force and pushing into open spaces along the baseline. He also handled the Durant assignment reasonably well, which is a step up from Hachimura's defensive performance earlier in his career.

YES, RUI pic.twitter.com/YdpRKEpsYp

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 29, 2024

Reaves scored 23 points and eight rebounds as he handled the ball down the stretch and made pick-and-rolls with Davis. He has grabbed at least seven rebounds in three games and has defended and relatively contained the opponent's leading backfield scorers – Anthony Edwards, Booker twice and De'Aaron Fox. According to NBA.com tracking data, these three stars combined to shoot 9 of 25 (36 percent) with Reaves as their primary defender.

“I’m just comfortable in the system they ask me to be, basically being myself,” Reaves said. “And when you are in that system of feeling good, no matter what in life, you will be better at what you do.”

That the Lakers have just as much to go wrong as before – James had a historically poor shooting night, the bench scored eight points on 3 of 10 shooting – but still being able to do so with a few seconds left in a one-possession game is encouraging. They were just one missed shot away from making it 4-0.

But that's not how the NBA works. And after such an impressive opening week, a loss is a sobering reminder that the Lakers are still far from the team they want to be.

“Nobody in history has gone 82-0,” Davis said. “We don't expect defeat, but we are realists and realistic. … The mentality for us all year long is to never lose two games in a row.”

That goal — similar to the team's stated goals for the 2019-20 title — starts at the top, with a coach plagued by defeat and feeling like he's fallen just short for his group.

Required reading

(Photo by JJ Redick and Gabe Vincent: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)