The Los Angeles Lakers became one of a few teams to fall victim to a 1-3 deficit in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs. On Sunday, former Philadelphia 76ers sharpshooter JJ Redick caught heat for his coaching decisions on the Lakers.
During a critical second-half, Redick treated his players’ minutes like it was Game 7. While going down 1-3 is typically a sign that series is pretty much over, you’d have a hard time finding NBA fans, players, and analysts agreeing with Redick’s decision to play just five guys in the second half.
We certainly played well enough to win, and we gave the effort to win. It’s not a planned thing to play five guys an entire second half. We asked them at the beginning of the fourth quarter, told them we had two extra timeouts. If you need a sub let us know. Those guys gave a lot.
Hearing Redick’s comments after the game, NBA legend Charles Barkley felt strongly against the rookie coach’s strategy.
“The amount of weight that LeBron and Luka have to carry; LeBron is 40, Luka has to do a lot. To play those guys, them other guys are interchangeable. You can’t play a 40-year-old man in Game 4 with three more games to go. You’ve got to give guys a rest,” Barkley said on NBA on TNT.
LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves, Luka Doncic, and Dorian Finney-Smith all played 24 minutes in the second half. While the Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves each scored 55 points, the three-point edge that Minnesota had at halftime ended up being the difference-maker.
Even if Redick’s strategy would’ve worked, allowing the Lakers to tie the series up before Game 5, Barkley wonders about the effects the heavy minutes would have on the rest of the series.
“There’s physical fatigue, there is mental fatigue. There always was coaches, ‘Do you need a blow?’ And I’d say, ‘Yeah, give me a blow so I have something down the stretch.’ And them turnovers? Luka missed a layup. LeBron missed a layup, and they both had a couple of turnovers. That’s fatigue.
As the NBA legend watched the second half of the Lakers-Timberwolves matchup, he saw LA as a team that had “nothing in the tank.” Now, they trail by two games and will participate in a win-or-go-home matchup on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
