The Los Angeles Lakers entered Friday, Nov. 1 facing a brand of adversity that JJ Redick had not yet encountered as a head coach. A 3-0 start to the 2024-25 regular season was quickly followed by two devastating losses—including a game the Lakers were on their way to winning and another they never found their way into.
Matched up with the Toronto Raptors in the third outing of a five-game road trip, Redick and the Lakers got back to their winning ways with a 131-125 victory.
Just two days removed from a lopsided 134-110 drubbing at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Lakers turned to their superstars to help right the ship. That proven formula was successful once more, as Anthony Davis and LeBron James paced Los Angeles to its fourth win of the season.
Davis finished with 38 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, three steals, and two blocks, while James tallied 27 points, 10 assists, six boards, and a steal.
Against a Raptors team that started four guards and played each of them upwards of 30 minutes, Redick was happy to utilize the three-point shot as a decoy to create driving lanes. Los Angeles buried 11 threes, but it thrived within the arc.
With 58 points in the paint and 41 free throw attempts, the Lakers trusted Davis and Austin Reaves to create penetration and score inside—and their combined 22-of-25 shooting at the line set quite a tone.
Lakers snap two-game losing streak by defeating Raptors 131-125
One of the biggest issues that head coaches bring upon themselves is rigidness in the way they orchestrate their offense. There needs to be a healthy measure of consistency in a team's approach, but the refusal to adapt to the opposition often costs teams games.
Redick was more than happy to exploit what the Raptors landed on as the ideal lineup for a Lakers team that epitomized the phrase matchup nightmare.
7'0" veteran Jakob Poeltl started at center, but the rest of Toronto's starting lineup was woefully undersized compared to Los Angeles' frontcourt. RJ Barrett and Gradey Dick, who stand at 6'6", were the tallest Raptors on the court after Poeltl.
That played right into the Lakers' hands, as Davis, James, and even an inefficient but aggressive Rui Hachimura got into the paint and shot the three-ball in an equally as impressive manner.
The Lakers' second unit only scored 18 points, but they still managed to sustain the team's interior dominance. Max Christie, Jaxson Hayes, Dalton Knecht, and Gabe Vincent combined for seven offensive rebounds, as well as seven free throw attempts.
It may not have been the explosive scoring performance some have been hoping for, but it was an essential effort that gave the starters the platform upon which they could close the game out.
A win over a team that's expected to be in the running for Cooper Flagg may not cause a surplus of headlines, but Redick deserves his flowers. The Lakers' could've gone all-in on the three-ball, but instead, they took advantage of the opportunity to routinely draw fouls on a smaller opponent that often had no choice but to send the purple and gold to the line.
With four players in double figures, three recording at least six assists, and seven shooting free throws, the Lakers put forth a balanced effort en route to their fourth win of the season.