JJ Redick honestly assesses the Lakers' perimeter defense woes in a loss to the Blazers
· Yahoo Sports
JJ Redick honestly assesses the Lakers' perimeter defense woes in a loss to the Blazers originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Visit esporist.org for more information.
After starting the season at 3-0, the Los Angeles Lakers have suffered their first loss of the season. It was a humbling 136-129 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, who remain unbeaten at 3-0.
This was one of the most exciting games of the 2026-27 NBA season so far because both teams were immense offensively. It slowed down in the fourth quarter, but they were shooting at around 65% from the field at some point. However, the Blazers' defense was the one that came out victorious.
JJ Redick gets honest about the Lakers' perimeter defense in first loss
When it comes to the offense, the Lakers have no problem because they have Luka Doncic, who just scored 41 points to follow up on his 52 points from the previous game. However, it seems that the Lakers cannot get it done on the other end just yet.
Despite having impressive perimeter defensive talents like Matisse Thybulle and Ziaire Williams, they still gave up 136 points to the Trail Blazers. In fact, Portland had four different perimeter players scoring 20+ points.
MORE: Walker Kessler loves that the Lakers' defense is much better than expected
As the Lakers' head coach, JJ Redick is displeased with what he saw against the Blazers. Of course, his team was impressive on offense, but they have to give the same level of effort on the other end.
"We just got broken down a lot. I thought the game plan, personnel discipline, wasn't where it needs to be. I think, sometimes early in the season, these are good learning lessons we can all apply as coaches and players," Redick said after suffering the first loss of the season.
Of course, even if some players played immense perimeter defense, shotmaking won out on Tuesday. Damian Lillard and Ja Morant were tremendous, but this is still something that the Lakers can learn from moving forward.
More NBA news:
- Rui Hachimura provides a brutally honest statement about how tough it is to play in Los Angeles
- JJ Redick speaks about what it's like to see an in-the-zone Luka Doncic
- All the records that Luka Doncic broke during his 52-point game against the Jazz
- Mike Brown speaks on the plans he has for former Laker Dalton Knecht
- The Lakers could have a major Walker Kessler concern despite the strong start