The Los Angeles Lakers were held to 89 points in a 111-89 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena, and head coach JJ Redick did not mince words afterward.
“We did enough defensively,” Redick said. “We were just awful offensively tonight.”
Boston shot 48% from the field and assisted on 29 of 40 baskets, while Los Angeles managed 39% shooting and went 9-of-30 from 3-point range.
Redick pointed to shot selection early in the game as a key issue against Boston’s drop coverage.
“There were opportunities, I think, to put more pressure on the rim,” he said. “Particularly in the first half, we took 11 non-paint twos.”
He added, “We were 13 for 29 on paint twos, non-rim paint twos. So, you know, that’s not normally what we shoot.”
The Lakers took care of the ball with just eight turnovers, but Redick emphasized that process alone is not enough.
“You got to make shots in this league,” he said.
When asked about ball movement and trust within a group that has played 12 games together, Redick acknowledged the ongoing adjustment.
“We’re a better basketball team. We win more games when we have more potential assists and get more assists,” he said. “We just didn’t do it enough.”
Boston’s perimeter attack proved decisive, especially from reserve guard Payton Pritchard, who scored 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting.
“He had a great game,” Redick said. “Obviously some high degree of difficulty shots he was making, but it was a tip your hat type of [performance].”
Redick stressed that limiting catch-and-shoot 3s remains the priority against Boston’s offense.
“Really where this team kills you is when they can get you in the blender and take catch and shoot threes,” he said. “Trying to limit that is I think the biggest thing when you play these guys.”
He added, “You have to be willing to live with contested off the dribble jumpers and Pritchard made a lot of them tonight.”
Despite the 22-point margin, Redick was largely satisfied with the defensive effort.
“I think we did a really good job of containing the basketball and forcing tough shots,” he said.
Frustration surfaced in the third quarter when Redick received a technical foul while disputing a no-call on what he described as a missed goaltend.
“They missed a blatant LeBron layup that was goaltended off the backboard,” he said. “Queta stuck his entire hand through the rim … that’s typically a goaltend. Not tonight obviously.”
Redick added, “I’ll get some clarification on the rule of that because that’s honestly a great way to defend floaters.”
The Lakers, now 34-21, return to action Tuesday against Orlando as they look to address the offensive execution their coach called out in detail.
