“They’re gonna have problems in the half court,” JJ Redick is unsure of LA Lakers maintaining their hot form in the playoffs
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JJ Reddick
Despite the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers have been shooting the lights out in the past few games, not one player on the roster is a certified 3-point shooter on the team. With the way modern basketball has taken shape, JJ Reddick in his podcast The Old man and The Three made a valid point. Reddick says it is almost next to impossible to have a good offense with good shooting in modern basketball.
The Lakers are on a roll right now and have won 6 of their last 8 games. Some of these wins have also come against top teams in the league. However, JJ Reddick doesn’t think that the Lakers are playoff contenders yet. He said, “I still think for them to be considered a legit contender… because when we get down to the playoffs without proper spacing without enough shooting they’re gonna have problems scoring in the half-court.” It is true the Lakers are shooting well but the burning question is how long can the Lakers sustain this kind of shooting.
However, Reddick made an interesting point bridging a relationship between Davis‘ MVP-level form right now and the Los Angeles Lakers shooting. Reddick said, “If Anthony Davis is playing like a top 5 player…at this level, maybe that lack of shooting doesn’t matter.” Postseason basketball is very different as the game slows down, the defense closes, and driving to the basket is not the first-choice player and coaches come to the court with.
Lakers’ success and Anthony Davis’s dominance, is there a relation?
LeBron James’ teams since his early playing days, despite being underdogs in almost every playoff games [except Miami sometimes] were successful. The was just one formula to winning with LeBron, surround him around shooters and so far Lakers have failed to do so this season.
Alluding to an article Reddick tried to make his point and reiterate why the Lakers might get in trouble when it’s the postseason games. “The Miami Heat teams and the Cleveland Cavaliers teams were built to optimize LeBron by surrounding him with shooting, and the Lakers did that initially. They won a championship, and then the last two seasons they’ve completely gone away from that,” JJ Reddick said.
However, Reddick also made it clear that it is also possible that their skyrocketed shooting percentage might have increased because of Anthony Davis’ performance. “I think there is a corresponding thing here with them shooting the sh** out of the ball and Anthony Davis hopping,” JJ said. Since Davis and James’ dominance in the paint area gives the other shooters like Lonnie Walker IV, Austin Reaves, and others more space to shoot the ball.
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Nandjee Ranjan
(488 Articles Published)