Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick enters his first playoff series and it won’t be an easy one as they draw the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves started the 2024-25 season slowly as they integrated new pieces in Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, but they’ve rounded into form and were playing their best basketball of the year at the end of the season. Now, Redick and his staff will need to game plan for a team that has every ingredient to upset them in the first round.
Redick knows the Timberwolves are going to be a very difficult opponent for the Lakers and one of the reasons why is their defense. Minnesota was ranked as one of the best defensive teams in the league, so Los Angeles has their work cut out for them offensively.
The Timberwolves force a lot of turnovers with their ball pressure and length, which is why Redick highlighted limiting turnovers as a huge factor in the series.
“It’s one of the biggest keys of the series,” Redick said after practice on Wednesday. “It’s just our ability to get a shot. Everybody talks about Nickell [Alexander-Walker] and [Jaden] McDaniels as these disruptive defenders which they are. They’re two of the best in the NBA, but Ant on the ball, [Donte] DiVincenzo on the ball, DiVincenzo in dribble handoffs. Those guys are really disruptive and there’s things that we have to do that are non-negotiable for us to run good offense. I think beyond just, ‘Hey, this guy’s ballhawking me.’ There’s other parts of it that lead to turnovers that you just have to have really good awareness with.”
As Redick noted, there are several players on the Minnesota roster who can wreak havoc on the defensive end so turning the basketball over would put L.A. in a bind. The onus will be on Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves to take care of the basketball, though the other players on the roster need to be disciplined as well.
Out of all the first-round matchups, the one between the Lakers and Timberwolves appears to be the most intriguing on paper and it’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top.
Jarred Vanderbilt and JJ Redick discuss difficulties of defending Anthony Edwards
On the flip-side, the Lakers’ defensive gameplan will need to revolve around Anthony Edwards who can do just about anything offensively. Both Jarred Vanderbilt and JJ Redick discussed the difficulties of defending a player like Edwards.
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