The Los Angeles Lakers picked up their seventh straight win on Tuesday night, dominating the New Orleans Pelicans in a 21-point win. Of course Luka Doncic and LeBron James led the way, combining for 64 points while getting other big contributions from the likes of Jaxson Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt and Dalton Knecht.
The Lakers are quickly gelling together with Doncic being the primary creator and head coach JJ Redick credited the entire team for stepping up in the win.
Yeah, they tried a bunch of different coverages on him [with] blitz, the red and the drop. He solved every riddle,” Redick said of Doncic after the win. “Again, we’re excited about the process when we get good shots, and I thought we were able to generate a lot of good shots tonight, and he was at the forefront of that. I thought Bron was fantastic. Jaxson [Hayes], again, [his] organization, his spacing and being disciplined. When we were setting ball screens with him, I thought other than two possessions in the first half, we had the right spacing. When we weren’t setting ball screens with him, he was the dunker, and he was opposite the ball and that led to some dunks. Jaxson played really well tonight.
Then off the bench, we get contributions from Shake [Milton] [with] two big threes in the first half. I thought Vando’s (Jarred Vanderbilt) energy in the third quarter defensively really helped to stretch the game open. Gabe [Vincent], as well, in that third quarter defensively was really good. Then, Dalton [Knecht] hit some shots for us. So, overall, just a good team win for us.”
Another big reason for the Lakers win was the 3-point line as the Lakers knocked down 19 of a season-high 52 attempts. But that volume was something Redick expected.
Going into this game, we knew we were gonna be able to take a ton of 3s,” Redick noted. “Since Zion got back, they’re 30th in 3-point attempt rate. They really look to pack the paint. We knew they were gonna mix things up with Bron and Luka, and again, we felt like if we were disciplined with our spacing and made the right passes, we were just gonna, our code word is ‘Launch’ and we felt like we were gonna launch tonight, and we did.”
The Lakers launched in a big way with Doncic knocking down six 3-pointers while James hit five of his own. For LeBron, some of those looks are coming in more catch-and-shoot opportunities as Luka has taken over as the primary creator and Redick credited him for embracing a more off-ball role.
“I think with LeBron, it’s big-time of him just to kind of hand over a little bit of the ball control,” Redick said. “And we weren’t having Bron bring it up a ton, but even in the halfcourt, playing off the ball and being comfortable with that I think is huge. Obviously he’s still scoring at a very high level. We’re gonna get him the ball when Luka is not in the game, we’re gonna have him as the primary guy when Luka is not in the game. But being shot ready, all that stuff I think has been fantastic.”
The fact that things have clicked so quickly with Luka joining the Lakers is astounding and they are only going to get more comfortable the more they play together. LeBron is setting the tone, changing it up and doing whatever is needed for the Lakers to be successful.
Obviously LeBron James figuring out his role alongside Luka Doncic is a huge deal, but the rest of the Lakers also must adjust their games and figure out how to play next to him as well. JJ Redick believes they are doing just that, despite Doncic’s style being so different from anyone else.
And for the other guys, there’s a non-cadence to the way Luka plays, if that makes sense,” the Lakers coach noted. “A lot of offensive players have pre-programmed reads, he just does shit that you’re like ‘What, why did you do that?’ There was a blitz against our bench in the second half, could’ve made one read, could’ve made another read. Made the read that I would’ve picked last, and we ended up getting a layup on it. Our guys are starting to get into a groove and a rhythm, even with the non-cadence of how he plays.
