Lakers head coach JJ Redick described Monday night’s 125-108 defeat to the Phoenix Suns as “like the Monstars taking over the people that you’ve grown to coach,” highlighting his team’s lack of effort against Phoenix.
Redick pointed to defensive lapses and missed opportunities in transition, saying, “Multiple times in the first half we had a numbers advantage in transition on the defensive end and guys just run by us… we talked about matching their physicality, didn’t do that to any extent at any point in the game.”
He also acknowledged the potential effects of fatigue, noting, “Maybe there was brain fog from three and four nights. I don’t know,” while emphasizing that the team failed to execute simple defensive principles against Dillon Brooks and Collin Gillespie.
Redick credited Phoenix’s physicality and size, particularly Mark Williams, who “was in the middle of the paint the whole time,” creating turnovers and preventing the Lakers from effectively running their offense.
Discussing the broader implications, Redick added, “The basketball gods reward you and they also punish you. In the moments when we had a chance to be rewarded, we didn’t do what we were supposed to do and we got punished. That was throughout the game, not just a singular moment.”
Luka Doncic took responsibility for the team’s mistakes, particularly his nine turnovers, but Redick noted that confusion in Phoenix’s schemes wasn’t the primary issue, emphasizing the Lakers’ failure to play hard as the main factor.
Redick concluded with a call for reflection, saying, “You just got to look at everything—rotations, schemes, all that stuff”—underlining the need to correct fundamentals and effort as Los Angeles prepares for upcoming games.
Monday’s loss snapped the Lakers’ seven-game winning streak, with Dillon Brooks scoring 33 points and Collin Gillespie adding a career-high 28 for Phoenix. Devin Booker left early with a groin injury, but the Suns dominated, forcing 22 turnovers and building a 21-point lead in the third quarter.
Los Angeles, struggling with fatigue in their third home game in four nights, saw Doncic score 38 points and Austin Reaves add 16. LeBron James finished with 10 points, keeping his streak of 1,297 consecutive regular-season games with double-digit scoring alive.
The Lakers travel to Toronto on Thursday, while the Suns will visit Houston on Friday.
