Lakers head coach JJ Redick downplayed Luka Doncic’s shooting woes after a 130-120 win over the Miami Heat. Doncic finished with 29 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists on 9-of-22 from the field.
Doncic went 1-for-11 from three-point range. Redick noted the struggles but highlighted the overall impact.
“He’s got a triple-double on an off night,” Redick said. “So, not bad.”
Redick reviewed Doncic’s shot selection. He found no major issues beyond a few end-of-clock attempts.
“I didn’t think any of the other ones were bad shots,” Redick explained. “He just maybe I don’t know, just an off night shooting the ball.”
The Lakers dished 33 assists and had six players in double figures. Redick credited the ball movement against Miami’s defense.
“For us to have 33 assists and six guys in double figures,” Redick said. “They’re a team that makes you pass the ball because they simultaneously paint swarm with three or four weak side defenders and they help off the strong side corner.”
Los Angeles missed several open corner threes. Redick called a timeout early in the third to address offensive pressure.
“Didn’t like the way we started offensively in the third quarter,” Redick recalled. “Just didn’t put any pressure on the paint.”
Austin Reaves and Doncic responded aggressively. Their drives sparked the offense again.
“I think the next three or four possessions, AR and Luka were really aggressive in getting in the paint,” Redick said. “And that got our offense going again.”
Redick praised bench player Jake LaRavia for his 25 points. LaRavia allowed the game to come to him.
“Jake was just another great game from him,” Redick stated. “He’s allowing the game to come to him.”
LaRavia thrives off-ball with cutting and reading plays. Redick sees him as a strong complement.
“He’s comfortable with the offball stuff and the cutting and just reading the game right now,” Redick added. “I think he’s a great compliment to our our main guys.”
The coach highlighted LaRavia’s intuitive feel. This includes surveying the floor on changes of possession.
“It’s simple stuff. It’s a change of possession and him surveying the floor and figuring out what should my running pattern be here,” Redick explained. “Should I go put pressure on the rim, which he did tonight? Should I go space for a three, which he did tonight.”
LaRavia pressured the rim and spaced for threes. He executed cuts effectively.
“He had two cuts to the basket, one was an ATO and one was just playing basketball,” Redick said. “He had a face cut on Jaquez.”
Redick values players with basketball knack. LaRavia shows it as a defender and rebounder too.
“He just has a really good feel, his knack for the basketball as a as a defender, his knack for the basketball as a rebounder,” Redick noted. “He just has a real intuitive feel for the game, especially against this Heat team.”
The Lakers shot 50.5 percent overall despite misses from stars. Redick pointed to transition and effort plays.
“We did a nice job of winning the possession battle,” Redick said. “So we were able to get out in transition from the first half.”
Defensive rebounding limited Miami. Turnovers led to early offense.
“We did a great job on the on the defensive glass and held them to a low amount of offensive rebounds and got them to turn the ball over a little bit,” Redick added.
Jaxson Hayes rolled behind the defense. LaRavia grabbed putbacks.
“Jaxson did a great job throughout the game of getting behind the defense and rolling,” Redick said. “Jake got some put backs.”
Redick took blame for zone offense disorganization. It was the main offensive gripe.
“The only thing is in our walk through 3 hours before the game the only thing we did offensively we installed a play and we went over our zone offense,” Redick explained. “And I’ll take some blame for that but that was my only gripe really with the offense tonight.”
