NBA coach says J.J.’s rant was ‘definitely aimed’ at LeBron and Luka

Head coach J.J. Redick had some harsh words for the Los Angeles Lakers after they got walloped by the Houston Rockets on Christmas. He called the team’s effort into question and said Los Angeles isn’t playing like it cares a whole lot.

Following Redick’s comments and the Lakers’ defeat, one unidentified Eastern Conference coach claimed Redick’s rant was “definitely aimed” at stars Luka Doncic and LeBron James.

“Having $100 million behind you definitely helps,” the coach said, via Heavy Sports. “Everything he said was true, you can tell that just from watching them play. But players are not used to getting called out that hard out in the open, so we’ll see how they take it. J.J. was definitely aimed at LeBron and Luka when he said that, we’ll see how they take it.”

James and Doncic have given the Lakers less-than-stellar effort on the defensive end this season. Doncic has never been a very good defensive player, and James is far from the defensive menace he was in the prime of his NBA career.

The star duo maybe deserved to be called out (if that’s what Redick intended), but they don’t warrant all the blame for Thursday’s blowout loss.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to come to the conclusion that the Lakers collectively didn’t play hard enough on Thursday — all one has to do is look at the box score. First off, Los Angeles’ defense provided little resistance all game, as the Rockets scored 119 points while shooting 53.3 percent from the field and getting to the line 19 times.

But it becomes especially clear that the Lakers didn’t compete with the effort necessary to beat a team as talented as the Rockets when looking at the rebounding discrepancy. Amazingly, Houston nearly doubled up Los Angeles on the glass and outrebounded the storied franchise 48-25. The Lakers really shot themselves in the foot with their inability to finish off defensive possessions, as the Rockets grabbed 17 offensive rebounds.

Thursday’s loss marked the continuation of a particularly rough defensive stretch for Los Angeles. The Lakers are losers of three straight and all of a sudden are less than one game ahead of the No. 6 seed Rockets in the standings. L.A. (currently the No. 4 seed) held the No. 2 spot in the West not all that long ago, and it will look to get back to its winning ways against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.