The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night, 131-114, as they attempt to navigate what has been a pretty difficult spate of injuries. One guy who hasn’t been injured, though, is starting guard D’Angelo Russell, although he saw his minutes cut on Wednesday — Russell came out of the game with 5:54 left in the third quarter, did not reenter, and only played 21:33 on the evening.
New Lakers coach JJ Redick decided to close the game with Gabe Vincent on the floor, and after the game, he was asked why he kept Russell on the bench. As he explained, part of it was just wanted to see what Vincent gave him, but with Russell, there were some things that he did not like to see.
“Level of compete, attention to detail, some of the things we’ve talked with him about for a couple weeks and, at times, he’s been really good with that stuff, and other times, it’s just reverting back to certain habits,” Redick told the press after the game at the 3:05 mark of the above video. “Wasn’t like a punishment, just felt like for us to have a chance to win this game, that was the route we wanted to take. Gabe, in the first half, especially defensively, was fantastic, and I just wanted to see what that looked like.”
Russell went 4-for-12 from the field for 12 points, three assists, and two steals before his evening came to an end.
