The Los Angeles Lakers have their back up against the wall going into their pivotal Game 5 matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night. And to make matters even worse, Lakers head coach JJ Redick has stirred up quite the controversy ahead of the game after walking out of his pregame press conference.
Redick decided to rely heavily on his top lineup in Game 4 of the series, playing LeBron James, Luka Dončić, Austin Reeves, Rui Hachimura, and Dorian Finney-Smith for the entirety of the second half.
While having the best players on the court as much as possible obviously isn’t typically a bad thing, one could argue that James on Dončić in particular, the more ball-dominant players on the Lakers, were somewhat burnt out by the end of the fourth quarter.
This topic in particular was brought up to Redick in his pre-game press conference ahead of Wednesday’s game. Only it was done in a way that Redick saw as disrespectful, with a reporter asking Redick whether he may lean on his assistant coaches more in Game 5 than he did in Game 4.
Redick quickly turned the question on the reporter, asking him whether he was insinuating he didn’t speak with his assistants on those kinds of decisions. Not too long after, Redick stormed off.
Redick’s pregame presser was a topic of conversation on Inside the NBA ahead of the Lakers-Timberwolves game.
“I think in that instance, he was actually right,” said Kenny Smith about Redick’s frustration with the question. “But I think the decision he made (in Game 4) was incorrect.”
“But you can’t be sensitive,” replied Barkley.
“He’s not sensitive,” replied Smith. “The guy is jabbing at him. He was like ‘Are you gonna lean on your assistants?’ Of course, he talks to his assistants. But you can’t play five guys in the fourth quarter. Period. If your assistants say it, you say it, the GM says it, whoever says it, don’t do it tonight.”
Charles Barkley then shared his opinion on the matter, reiterating his belief that Redick was being sensitive.
“Dude, he is just a little sensitive,” said Barkley. “Listen, one of the things people say that they never watch television. We all lie. All jocks watch television. He’s been getting criticized the last 48 hours for playing those guys. And he is just sensitive. Everybody is afraid to say ‘I was wrong.’ All he had to do was say, ‘I shouldn’t have played those guys the whole second half and that’s it.’ Then it would have been over.”
Shaquille O’Neal gave Barkley a bit of pushback, detailing how every player and coach has to stand by their decisions, whether they are right or wrong.
“As a coach, as a player, you ride or die with your decisions,” said O’Neal. “Is he inexperienced? Yes, he made a decision. Some say it was wrong, he thought it was right. Doesn’t matter. What matters is if you don’t win this game tonight, it’s over. That’s all that matters.”
At the end of the day, the question could have been phrased better. Redick also could have handled the perceived dig a bit better or maybe not have taken it so personally.