Normally, you could see an NBA team playing three games in six days. Maybe four if there is a back-to-back on the schedule. The Los Angeles Lakers played six in eight days, including three back-to-backs. Marred by injuries, to JJ Redick this was something he considers “impossible” if it were him playing. The grueling order put the Purple and Gold in a predicament. How do they manage to keep themselves healthy and get through this stretch?
They were without LeBron James and Rui Hachimura the whole time. Yet they managed to go 3-3. Again Redick was impressed with the result. But as much as the players deserve applause for relentlessly competing in spite of draining fatigue, Redick and the management played it smart too. How? By choosing when to rest their star players as they did tonight with Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and Dorian Finney-Smith all sitting out against Milwaukee.
Doc Rivers was frank about facing the depleted Lakers. “I don’t really care honestly,” he said as his intention is to win games. But seeing it from a coach’s lens, he gave props to JJ Redick for smartly navigating through the tough schedule.
“Obviously, with those guys out we’re supposed to win the game and we won the game. But I don’t think much of it. It happens you know because of the fires they’ve had a brutal schedule and so they had to risk high somewhere. Picking an East Coast team is smarter than picking a West Coast team that’s what I would say,” he commented.
Feb 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick during the third quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images
So even though the resting starters against a shorthanded Nuggets would have been smart, Redick decided to go all out. Because ultimately, a win against the Nuggets could help with how volatile the West standings are. A season series win means in case of a tie, the Lakers will hold the better seed. But against the East, it’s a straightforward loss with no other other repercussions.
With most of the injured stars listed as day-to-day, Redick is confident they can make a push. But honestly, the Lakers HC is just glad their horrific stretch has concluded.
The Lakers achieved the “impossible”
Playing six games in eight days is no joke. The physical exhaustion the Lakers have gone through is immense. “Some of us got banged up during that road trip and all these back-to-backs,” rookie Dalton Knecht admitted. Playing without two of their starting forwards, the entire Laker contingent needed to delegate their duties.
Knecht was one of only two players to play in all six of those games. Austin Reaves who took a defining leap featured in five and averaged 29 points and 7.2 assists. The Lakers showed incredible fortitude to survive during the gnarly eight-day stand. Likewise, JJ Redick couldn’t help but praise their efforts.
“You are not built to play six games in eight nights. The game doesn’t allow you to play six games in eight nights… It was an easier game to play then because there wasn’t as much movement and there wasn’t as much spacing and you didn’t have to cover as much of the court. It’s what our guys just went through you know it’s difficult,” Redick commented after the Bucks loss.
The former NBA sharpshooter is aware his statement may rub off on the “old heads” in a wrong way. They preach toughness and persevering through every circumstance. They even went battering each other with the physicality that was allowed in that era. But with the pace of the modern game and especially how Redick urges the Lakers to play, it goes beyond just fatigue. The players must have found it hard to even catch their breaths with only minimal rest.
Redick believes what his players just did was “impossible”. He was humble enough to admit he couldn’t have done it. “Just glad to be on the other side of it,” Redick said. And now the Lakers coach knows with reinforcements coming back in and a standard schedule, it’s time to nail the final stretch.
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