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JJ Redick lauds Lakers’ defense: ‘We’re building trust’

October 25, 2024

EL SEGUNDO — Outside of 3-point shots not falling, the Lakers’ first game under coach JJ Redick, a 110-103 home win against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night, couldn’t have gone much better.

Especially on the defensive end of the court.

“We had some possessions with textbook multiple-effort plays,” Redick said after Thursday’s practice. “Just the mixture of stuff that we did and then our guys executing the different coverages was really good.”

And the fact the Lakers had the defensive performance they did against the Timberwolves, converting 16 turnovers into 19 points and holding Minnesota to 41 points at halftime, while also struggling to knock down perimeter shots, was cause for encouragement.

With the Lakers shooting 5 for 30 from 3-point range on Tuesday, they became just the 12th team since the introduction of the 3-point line during the 1979-80 season to attempt 30 or more from behind the arc and make five or fewer and still win, according to Stathead.

Teams will often allow their offensive production to dictate their defensive effort.

That wasn’t the case against the Timberwolves.

“We’re building trust, that’s the biggest thing,” Redick said. “Trust does not happen overnight. It’s a word we’ve used a lot. You need reinforcement of that trust. It can happen in a practice, it can happen in a game, it can happen in a film session. The best reinforcement though is in a game.

“And when you talk about being a process team, you need to certainly get results to sort of build that trust in the process. Our guys are starting to do that.”

That trust, and their defense, will be tested in their next two home games that’s followed by a five-road trip.

The Lakers host the Phoenix Suns on Friday night, a team they played twice during the preseason, before hosting the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night.

The Suns opened their season on Wednesday by beating the Clippers at Intuit Dome.

“It starts with three elite offensive players,” Redick said, referencing Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. “They’re doing a lot of like-size, small-small screening and getting behind the defense. That’s something we have to be really cognitive about in switching groups.

“If you watch the game [Wednesday] night, it’s a lot of nail isos with Kevin Durant late game. Those are tough to defend. A great player at the nail is … it can be an unsolvable problem if they’re making shots.”

NICKNAME GAME

In a battle of nicknames for Lakers rookie wing Dalton Knecht, it looks like the original is here to stay.

Knecht, affectionately nicknamed “Knecht 4” after being given the No. 4 jersey when the Lakers drafted him in June, received another nickname from an L.A. icon last week.

“You called him by the wrong name – his new name is Westside,” Snoop Dogg said while appearing on the Oct. 18 episode of ESPN’s “First Take”. “Westside Knecht.”

Knecht found out about the new nickname suggestion from friends before posting a poll on X (formerly Twitter) to see which moniker he should go by.

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“How I first found out, my friends were texting me and I didn’t believe them,” Knecht said. “And then my parents sent it to me and I was like, ‘Wow. This is crazy.’ I couldn’t believe it.”

The poll, which was voted on 17,217 times, went in favor of “Knecht 4” by a 77%-23% margin.

Said Knecht: “So I guess ‘Knecht 4’ is the one. But Snoop Dogg can call me ‘Westside [Knecht]’.

SUNS AT LAKERS

When: Friday, 7 p.m.

Where: Crypto.com Arena

TV/radio: ESPN, Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM

Orange County Register

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JJ Redick lauds Lakers’ defense: ‘We’re building trust’

NICKNAME GAME

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