JJ Redick challenged LeBron, Luka, Reaves in a meeting before the Grizzlies victory

We cannot deny how important Saturday’s match was important for the Lakers.

At the end of the season, tied in the ranking with the grizzly guys, in a bad shape, the Lakers really needed a victory in the worst way.

Thus, head coach JJ Redick gathered his players before the match and challenged them. During a meeting on Saturday morning, Redick implored the trio of LeBron James, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves being more aggressive and more assertive.

“We challenged the three when we arrive at their actions with three men to play with a little more force, a little more push, a little more creativity,” said Redick. “We were able to get superb things in the fourth quarter of leave and create the kind of advantages that we have planned to create when we assemble these three guys. I told them this morning, it is difficult to create advantages against switches and, in general, they will have three defenders who can all change.

“But there was a defender that we had the impression of who did not necessarily want to change and when we put these three guys in action in the fourth quarter, it was great.”

The three large ones responded enormously, marking or helping out of 120 of the 134 points of the team. The three scored at least 25 points and gave at least eight assists.

In short, it was their best performance as aness in their short time, leading the team to a huge victory.

“Me and Bron and Luka and JJ we are met this morning,” said Reaves in his interview with Spectrum Sportsnet. “Obviously, Bron is someone I grew up watching, then when Luka entered the League, he was one of my favorite players to look at. To make me trust great situations, it reinforces my confidence a lot. I probably know more than 100 people here this evening of Arkansas. So, just to go out here and play for free and have fun is a lot of fun for me.”

Redick’s advice in the trio was not only to take up the challenge, but to better use the situations in which they were put. With the turning games and the playoffs approaching quickly, the Lakers lack time to understand things.

Redick therefore wanted his stars to discover things and, in particular, do not remain stuck in the habit of trying the same thing again and again.

“If we put you in an environment, do not do the same thing each time,” said Redick about his message at their meeting. “If we put you in an environment, go all live. Exhaust each option. Allow us to call a set where the three of you are involved, then exhaust all the options so that we can come back. ”

On Saturday, in their biggest game of the season, the trio answered the call. For many reasons, this is an encouraging sign for the future. With the playoffs at the corner of the street, having this trio clicks on all cylinders is the only way for the team to do a deep race.

Putting this test in one of the biggest games of the year is a great way to start.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter in @Jacobrude or on Bluesky at @ jacobrude.bsky.social.