JJ Redick says he was impressed by Lakers’ poise in win over Warriors
Despite losing Anthony Davis early, the Lakers never lost their composure against the Warriors, leaving JJ Redick impressed after the win.
Considering the Lakers were coming off a frustrating loss to the Pistons, losing Anthony Davis in the first quarter against the Warriors on Wednesday felt like a potential death blow. All the momentum the Lakers had gained in recent weeks felt like it could be wiped away with a loss to the Warriors on Christmas Day.
Instead of folding, though, the Lakers did quite the opposite. Even without a center for large chunks of the game, the visitors controlled the game throughout. They held the lead for much of the contest and had an answer for every run the Warriors made.
Even as Steph Curry hit dagger 3-pointers late, the Lakers responded in kind, eventually getting the final laugh with the game-winner. After the contest, head coach JJ Redick spoke about the poise his team showed.
“I think what I liked most was just our poise throughout the game,” Redick said. “Starting with AD being out and us not getting rattled by that and us having to kind of adjust on the fly. I thought in the first half, we had really good spacing and really got to a lot of paint touches. Got to some re-drives. We shot 42 threes, 30 assists with nine turnovers against their pressure. It wasn’t perfect for us but just the poise we had throughout the game.”
In addition to the stats mentioned by Redick, one of the biggest ones for the Lakers that also proved vitally important was their 18-18 shooting at the free-throw line. As the Warriors were hitting big 3-pointers late, the Lakers kept responding at the charity stripe to force Golden State to keep hitting bigger and bigger shots.
Poise hasn’t often been a characteristic attributed to the Lakers often in recent years. Even earlier this season, the Lakers were prone to let go of the rope and let games get out of hand.
On Wednesday, that never happened. Few runs are harder to withstand than a Steph-led 3-point barrage that gets Warriors fans on their feet. The Lakers' holding firm against those runs and having answers is a big sign of growth.
Now, the challenge will be to build on this performance and not make it a flash-in-the-pan showing.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.