Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick cited “certain habits” as part of the reason why D’Angelo Russell was limited to a season-low 22 minutes in Wednesday’s 131-114 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
“Level of compete, attention to detail. Some of the things we’ve talked with him about a couple of weeks,” Redick said when asked postgame about the starting guard’s lower usage, according to Lakers Nation’s Daniel Starkand.
“At times he’s been really good, other times it’s just reverting to certain habits. It wasn’t like a punishment, but for us to have a chance to win this game, that was the route we wanted to take. (Gabe Vincent) in the first half, especially defensively, was fantastic. I just wanted to see what that looked like.”
Russell, who entered Wednesday averaging 31.3 minutes in seven games this season, was replaced by Vincent with 5:54 left in the third quarter and never re-entered the contest. He finished with 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting, including a 2-of-9 mark from downtown. He also had just three assists, his worst single-game tally this season.
Vincent hit a long step-back two immediately after subbing in that trimmed Memphis’ lead to nine, but the Grizzlies responded with a Jay Huff three and the Lakers never got within single digits again. Memphis opened up its largest lead a minute into the final frame when Luke Kennard – making his season debut after missing the first seven games with a foot muscle strain – hit his only three of the contest to put his team up 22.
Lakers star LeBron James scored a game-high 39 points while shooting 15-of-24 from the field and 6-of-11 from deep. He also chipped in seven rebounds, six assists, and a steal in the defeat.
“LeBron was terrific – he’s almost 40 years old, and he played the hardest on our team,” Redick said, courtesy of Lakers reporter Mike Trudell.
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