JJ Redick explodes against his players after another Lakers defeat: "LeBron is nearly 40 years old and he was the one who tried the hardest"

The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Memphis Grizzlies last night, 131-114, in a game where they once again felt the absence of Anthony Davis due to injury, where LeBron James stood out, and from which JJ Redick emerged very upset with the performance of the rest of the players.

"I think LeBron was fantastic tonight," said the coach, after James' 39 points with a 62.5% field goal percentage. "What impressed me the most... he played hard. Almost 40 years old and he was the one who showed the most effort on our team. That says a lot about him."

Addressing the apparent lack of effort from the Lakers, Redick was direct: "I already did it," he said, leaving the microphone on the table to conclude the press conference. As he left, he shouted back at the reporters: "The first thing I told them."

Redick also expressed his dissatisfaction with the distribution of minutes. D'Angelo Russell played only six minutes in the second half and ended with a total of 22 minutes, the lowest amount of the season. The coach explained that he limited Russell's playing time due to his level of competition and attention to detail, topics they had discussed in previous weeks: "At times he's been very good with that, and at other times, he reverts to certain habits. But it wasn't a punishment; we just felt that to have a chance to win, that was the path we wanted to take."

LeBron James

"At the end of the day, especially when you're missing teammates, you have to compete," commented James, who defended power forward Jaren Jackson Jr. for much of the night. "You have to compete even more. You have to be there giving everything you have on both ends. I think there were moments where we did, but most of the time, we didn't sustain the energy and effort."

James also mentioned the lack of defense, pointing out the key areas where the Lakers fell short: "We have to compete, and we have to defend. We allowed a 50% effective field goal percentage, they shot well from three, got into the paint, grabbed offensive rebounds, scored second-chance points, and also transition points."

"So it wasn't so much the offense, although we didn't shoot well. We have to do a better job at that, but we also need to focus on defense."

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, JJ Redick estalla contra sus jugadores tras otra derrota de los Lakers: "LeBron tiene casi 40 tacos y fue el que más se esforzó"