LOS ANGELES — The Lakers have found their leader.
After several coaching changes, including Mike Brown, Mike D’Antoni, Byron Scott, Luke Walton, Frank Vogel, and Darvin Ham, they have finally discovered the leader they needed.
The constant turnover in the coach’s office has ended. JJ Redick is living up to the expectations the Lakers had for him, and perhaps even exceeding them.
With a 106-102 victory over the Clippers at Imaginary-Money-dot-com Arena on Friday, the Lakers improved to 37-21. But this is more than just about their record.
They sit in fourth place in the Western Conference and are in position to move up to second before the regular season ends, but this isn’t solely about their position in the standings.
What matters now is how they play. This is about the culture they’ve built.
The players are fully on board with what their rookie coach is implementing, and suddenly, the Lakers have the best defense in the NBA.
Who would have guessed the Lakers could hold their last six opponents to 102 or fewer points, especially after parting ways with their two top defenders in the Luka Doncic trade?
“That’s just us,” LeBron James said. “I mean, it’s who we are at this point.”
Redick has energized the Lakers in a way similar to how Sean McVay did with the Rams. He has molded the Lakers in his own image, much like Jim Harbaugh did with the Chargers.
Now, nearly 60 games into Redick’s first season, the Lakers know who they are, a rarity in the post-Phil Jackson era.
There was no certainty that Redick would be different from Ham or Walton, the other rookie coaches the Lakers hired in recent seasons.
Redick’s hiring was met with skepticism, and understandably so. He wasn’t Dan Hurley, the coach the Lakers originally wanted. Redick lacked any significant coaching or management experience beyond youth basketball. He came off as cocky in a way often associated with impostors, and he was inheriting basically the same roster that had failed Ham. His hiring seemed like a desperate move.
But the Lakers’ gamble paid off, as the coach with a polished image introduced a tough, switch-heavy defensive style to a franchise once defined by Showtime basketball.
“Defensively is where we hang our hat,” James said. “It’s going to give us a chance to win every night.”
The win over the Clippers capped a stretch of three victories in four days for the Lakers. They played the game without Rui Hachimura, sidelined with a knee issue, and lost Austin Reaves during the contest to a calf injury.
It was also the conclusion of a 10-2 month for the Lakers.
“It’s a tough game to play and to win,” Doncic said. “I think we showed our character today.”
Although Reaves and Hachimura could miss several weeks, the win showed that the Lakers can persevere without them.
“Our group, they competed, they found a way,” Redick said. “It was a rock fight out there.”
The Lakers boast the highest-rated defense in the league over the last six weeks, and they once again suffocated their opponents on Friday. Their bench recorded nine of the team’s 14 steals, with Gabe Vincent grabbing four and Jordan Goodwin adding three despite being on a two-way contract.
“It takes a while for a group to develop an identity, takes a while for a group to develop a collective mentality,” Redick said. “There’s been a lot of things that have happened this season. I felt like the group, our ecosystem, was created, and it’s been sustained since mid-January.”
He was particularly pleased with how his team adhered to the game plan to neutralize James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. Guard Kris Dunn torched them for 14 points in the first half, but the Lakers didn’t flinch. Dunn, who hit six of his first seven shots, eventually cooled off. Harden finished with 18 points on 5-for-22 shooting, including 1 of 10 from beyond the arc.
“I like who we are as a team right now,” Redick said.
And he’s not alone in that sentiment.
Late in the third quarter, one play by the Lakers earned a standing ovation, and it wasn’t a dunk from James or a three-pointer from Doncic.
In that sequence, Jarred Vanderbilt stripped the ball from Harden and dove on the court to recover it.
This is the new era of Lakers basketball. This is JJ Redick’s vision, and it’s here to stay.
