The Lakers spent time in practice working on making life difficult for opposing offenses. JJ Redick liked seeing some evidence of it against somebody else.
Los Angeles forced 26 turnovers in Monday’s 127-103 preseason win over the Kings, including 16 in the first half.
“The defense carried over [from practice],” Redick said, via Jackson Frank of Silver Screen and Roll. “Clearly, that disruption we talked about carried over.”
As Frank notes, forcing turnovers hasn’t been a particular strength during Redick’s first two seasons. The Lakers finished 18th and 15th in opponent turnover rate during that stretch, per Cleaning the Glass.
One preseason game won’t change their reputation. Still, coaches spend camp asking players to do certain things. It’s nice when those things show up in a game.
Redick also liked how the Lakers shared the ball, even with Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler sitting out.
“I thought we did a good job throughout the game of making the right play and passing the ball and not having it stick,” he said.
Luka Doncic led the way with 21 points. Quentin Grimes, Ziaire Williams and Jake LaRavia combined for 41 points on just 19 shots, as Frank detailed.
“Obviously, the defense being able to force turnovers helped our offense. Getting stops helped our offense,” Redick said. “We just consistently did the right play and the right play helped our teammates.”
Nothing there to complain about. The next assignment is doing it again.
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