LeBron James turned in a vintage performance for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 131-114 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night, which was commended by his head coach, but in a concerning way.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick says LeBron James showed the most effort vs. the Grizzlies
James, 39, dropped a season-high 39 points, along with seven rebounds and six assists on 15-24 shooting from the field against the Grizzlies. After the game, Lakers head coach JJ Redick lauded the Ohio native for playing with the most effort on the team, as Spectrum SportsNet shared on X:
“Almost 40 years old and played the hardest on our team. It says a lot about him,” Redick said.
Redick’s praise of James may be a bad thing for the Lakers
James’ effort at his advanced age is a welcomed sign for Los Angeles. However, it may also be an indictment on the work his teammates put in on the road in Memphis. Lakers superstar Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura were both out for the game. Young stars Jaxson Hayes and Dalton Knecht started in their place, while Cam Reddish saw 26 minutes off the bench.
Seeing that Knecht is a rookie vying to get his career off the ground and Hayes is known for being a high-energy athlete, it comes as a surprise that neither of them were accentuated by coach Redick for seizing the moment in the starting lineup and doing things that don’t show up on the stat sheet.
The same can be said for Reddish, who was just raved about by coach Redick a game prior for making an impact on the defensive end despite going scoreless against the Detroit Pistons.
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James put emphasis on the Lakers needing to compete more on defense
Also per Spectrum SportsNet, James touched on his lead playcaller’s laudatory comments in the locker room post-game, but also responded to reporters who too took the latter’s prognosis as a hit to his supporting cast more than a compliment to the 20-time All-Star:
“Yeah, I mean at the end of the day, especially when you lose bodies, you’ve got to compete. You’ve got to compete even harder. You’ve gotta, you know, be out there giving everything that you’ve got and doing it on both ends. You know, I think there’s times where we did that, but for the majority of the time I don’t think we sustained energy and effort,” James stated.
“We’re still executing but it doesn’t look that way when the shots are not going in. We had some great execution tonight where shots literally did not fall,” James led with. “But the execution offensively is not the problem. We gotta compete and we gotta defend.”
James believes that the team took a step back with their level of tenacity on defense, which showed itself more in their prior matchups, regardless of the result. Ultimately, the Lakers will continue to look for contributors that can give them a spark in the energy department, especially from their younger group of guys as they seek to get back in the win column.
