There were questions surrounding some of the decisions head coach JJ Redick made throughout the Los Angeles Lakers series loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Most notable was his decision to stick with the five-man group of LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith for the entire second half of Game 4.
With the Lakers desperate to tie the series, Redick made the call to not make a single substitution and go with the group he trusted most. With the Lakers ultimately crumbling down the stretch, some felt he was to blame as L.A. looked gassed in the final minutes. But James himself completely disagrees.
LeBron made it clear in the latest episode of the “Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash that he felt fine in the moment and was only tired afterwards because all that he puts into a playoff game:
James would also note that none of the Lakers questioned Redick or the coaching staff for the decision and placed the blame solely on the players for not coming through:
Regardless of where the blame is placed, the end result was a Lakers loss and now the season is over. But it sounds as if the criticism really only came from the outside as the players themselves understood the reasoning and have full trust and belief in Redick and the rest of the coaching staff.
Obviously, LeBron James and the Lakers did not expect their postseason to end in the first round at the hands of the Timberwolves, but the superstar has now had some time to reflect on the series.
James said that there were a lot of emotions to unravel and he has gone back and questioned what he and the Lakers could have done better in the series. But in the end, he simply noted that the playoffs are always about matchups and the Lakers ran into a tough one.
