JJ Redick’s rookie mistake in Game 4 could cost Lakers their season

JJ Redick has had a great first season as coach but deciding to make no substitutions in the second half of Game 4 put the Lakers in a hole against the Wolves they likely won’t climb out of.

JJ Redick’s rookie campaign as head coach for the Lakers has been a success.

He’s proven not just to be a podcaster hired because he was LeBron James’ friend, but that he can coach a professional team and is pretty good at it.

However, postseason basketball magnifies everything. It exposes uncomfortable truths, and Redick’s inexperience was evident in LA’s Game 4 loss to the Wolves.

The Lakers entered the game trailing in the series and needed the road win to even things up and regain home-court advantage. While it wasn’t a must-win game, heading back to California with the series tied at 2-2 with two of the potential final three games being at Crypto.com Arena was far, far different proposition than trailing 3-1 with a loss.

It was with that mindset and approach, then, that Redick made the boldest call of his brief coaching tenure, opting not to make a single substitution in the second half of Game 4, which has not happened during a playoff game since the NBA began tracking this data.

You’ll never guess what the result was for the Lakers.

Los Angeles was outscored 32-19 in the fourth, a trend happening throughout the series.

LeBron James went scoreless in the quarter, taking just two shot attempts, as he struggled with Minnesota’s size and getting inside the paint. Much of his energy and focus were also going into the defensive end of the court, where he was fantastic.

The Lakers also had mental lapses, including another late-game turnover on an inbound play, which reminded fans of their meltdown in the regular season against the Bulls.

On the possessions that didn’t result in turnovers, they struggled, shooting just 5-18 from the field in the period.

In the end, they lost by three points.

With the margin of victory being so small, you start to wonder what could’ve gone differently. Perhaps a Gabe Vincent basket or a key Jarred Vanderbilt stop could’ve protected the double-digit lead they had entering the fourth quarter.

Had LeBron, Luka and even Austin Reaves taken a breather, maybe that gives them fresher legs down the stretch and some of those misses turn into makes. Both LeBron and Luka missed shots at the rim while Austin had multiple open 3-pointers in the fourth that did not fall.

Unfortunately, the role players were never given a chance to perform, the starters didn’t get a moment of rest and now they are one loss away from their season being over.

This decision, or lack thereof, falls on Redick. In his first year as a head coach, he has been great, but this was a grave error that cost them the game. And with the loss dropping them to a 3-1 series deficit, it very well may cost them their season.

So it’s not a shock that Luka and Lebron were missing bunnies in the paint and Minnesota was able to outrebound Los Angeles 13-9 in the fourth.

It wasn’t a coincidence that the Wolves looked like they had another quarter in them at the final buzzer while the Lakers seemingly crawled to the finish line.

The will to win was certainly there for the Lakers, but this isn’t NBA 2K. The fatigue meter is always on in real life. Redick’s choice to ride his same five-man lineup and not find rest for his key players during the final two quarters of this pivotal game proved catastrophic.

In the big picture, this is a growth opportunity, as he called them throughout the season, for Redick. In the immediate future, it cost them a game, possibly the series, and puts their season in danger.

Rookie head coaches are no different than rookie players in that sometimes failure is how you learn. Unfortunately for the Lakers, Sunday’s failure could have dire consequences on the season.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.