Despite injuries to LeBron and Luka, JJ Redick has the 5–2 Lakers playing championship caliber basketball, looking to win their fourth straight game in Portland tonight while setting a pace that translates to a 60-win season.
The Lakers’ 130–120 wire-to-wire win over the Heat with their #5 defense showcased how solid L.A.’s supporting cast is as Doncic and Reaves had subpar games but got major help from LaRavia, Smart, and Hayes to win. While it’s ironic to call a +14 29/11/11 triple double from Luka and +7 26/4/11 game from Austin as ‘subpar’, L.A. did need +17 15/5/1/1/1 from Hayes, +8 25/5/8/4/0 from LaRavia, and +11 3/4/2/1/0 from Smart to win.
Redick has the Lakers off to a strong start winning five of seven with nearly every player on the roster exceeding expectations despite James already missing seven, Smart four, Doncic three, and Ayton two games to injuries.
The wins and how every player L.A. retained or signed this offseason, has exceeded expectations, including Doncic, Reaves, Hachimura, Vanderbilt, Ayton, LaRavia, Smart, and Hayes, confirm the elite job Redick has done.
We saw signs last season of a Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves juggernaut backcourt winning without LeBron James but that vision is in full bloom right now, which should scare the hell out of every other NBA team.
The Lakers’ championship blueprint is going to be 48 minutes of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves on the ball attacking the paint every game while LeBron James becomes the team’s off-ball jack-of-all trades wild card.
JJ deserves high praise for how the Lakers are already exceeding their expected ceiling without LeBron and other key players and how much better they could become when they get LeBron back and make a trade.
The post How JJ Redick Has Lakers Off To Impressive Start Despite Injuries appeared first on Lakerholics.