JJ Redick, one of the best 3-point shooters in NBA history, got his first win as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. His team, however, only shot 5 for 30 from 3-point range (16.7%) in the 110-103 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Redick is definitely not a bad craftsman — or, in this case, marksman — but, in this case, he (at least partially) blamed his team’s tools.
The basketball the Lakers and Wolves were using was brand new, he told reporters.
“I’m going to send in a request for the league tomorrow that we can play with worn-in basketballs,” Redick said, via Spectrum Sportsnet. “I’m not sure why we’re playing in real games — I’m being dead serious — I’m not sure why we’re playing in real games with brand-new basketballs. Anybody who’s ever touched an NBA ball brand new, it’s a different feel and touch than a worn-in basketball.
“I didn’t realize it until a timeout. There was a long rebound, I grabbed it. I was like, ‘What? Why are we playing with this ball? Give the guys the opportunity to pick a good basketball.’ You think I’m joking. I’m neurotic.”
The Timberwolves, of course, were using the same basketball as the Lakers. They managed to shoot 13 for 41 (31.7%) from deep — an atrocious number if sustained for a full season, but not a crazy outlier in a single game.
Los Angeles overcame its extremely poor shooting because Anthony Davis was dominant and it outscored Minnesota 72-40 in the paint. If you were worried about the Lakers’ spacing coming into the season, though, you might be alarmed by the numbers in their first game.
Last year, they made 37.7% of their 3s, which ranked No. 8 in the NBA, but the stat that better represented their shooting ability was attempted 3s — on a per-possession basis, no team got 3s up less frequently. Redick, naturally, has been talking about modernizing their shot profile since he was hired. He didn’t sound particularly worried about that on Tuesday, though, because they attempted 3s at a good rate early in the game and they bullied the Wolves on the inside throughout.
“In terms of the process of generating 3s, look, the paint was open in the second half,” Redick said. “We took, I think, 19 3s in the first half, which is rate on pace to where we want to be for our season average in terms of a full game, and we got great looks. And there was even some 3s there in the second half that I thought were wide open and we just couldn’t knock ’em down.”
In other words, while Redick was rankled by the ball itself, he was generally pleased with what the Lakers did with it.
