The Los Angeles Lakers’ season began on a disappointing note with a loss to the Golden State Warriors, and while coach JJ Redick emphasized the need for his team to succeed without LeBron James, even he couldn’t deny how much they missed their star player on the floor.
“It’s hard to forget about LeBron,” Redick admitted. “The reality is, when you’re focused on the group that you have, you’ve got to make the group work.” He later confessed, “I’ll be honest with you, I did have one moment in the first half when we had a few possessions when we couldn’t score against the zone and I thought, ‘It’d be great to have LeBron.’”
James, dressed sharply in a suit and glasses, watched from the sidelines as he continues to recover from a sciatica flare-up. This marked the first time in his 23-year NBA career that the league’s all-time leading scorer missed his team’s season opener.
On the court, Luka Doncic stole the spotlight with a near triple-double, tallying 43 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists. Austin Reaves contributed 26 points while Deandre Ayton added 10, but the Lakers struggled to keep pace after halftime. They were down by only one point at the break, but Golden State’s explosive 18-4 start to the third quarter proved decisive.
Redick pointed out a recurring issue that has plagued the team for a while. “The trend I see is that we continue to be a terrible third-quarter team,” he said. “That was last year, that was the preseason. I got to rethink some things and it’s, you know, a two-way thing with the guys: What do they need at halftime to make sure they’re ready to play? They’re not ready to play to start the third quarter.”
With James expected to remain sidelined into November, Redick reminded his players that everyone must elevate their game in his absence. “We need our guys to star in their roles,” he said. “I don’t think that changes if LeBron is in the lineup or out of the lineup. We need our guys to star in their roles.”
But the coach admitted that Tuesday’s performance didn’t reflect that mindset. “A microcosm of this game was, we did enough good things to put ourselves in a position to win for most of the game,” Redick said. “And when we didn’t do those things, they were self-inflicted.”
Meanwhile, Doncic took responsibility for teammate Deandre Ayton’s limited scoring opportunities, acknowledging that he needed to communicate better during the game. Despite his stellar showing, Doncic appeared to feel some discomfort late in the match and required post-game treatment for what seemed to be a minor groin issue. “Felt it a little bit, but it’s probably nothing,” he said afterward.
