LOS ANGELES — J.J. Redick wants his Lakers team to shoot a lot more 3s than they did a season ago, and for a half of their opening night game against the Timberwolves they did that, taking 19. The problem? They made just two of those. For the game, the Lakers were 5-of-30 from beyond the arc.
One can argue that’s because it was an off night, or, more plausibly, the Lakers are not a team with great shooters so these nights are going to happen. Redick had another complaint he felt was throwing his team off: A brand new, not broken-in, basketball being used. And he’s going to let the league hear about it.
“I’m going to send in a request for the league tomorrow that we can play with worn-in basketballs,” Redick said postgame, drawing some laughs from the assembled media. “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.”
Redick isn’t joking — he was an elite shooter as a player who had his preferences in what he wanted in a ball — but I would love to see the face of the league officials when that complaint comes in. For the record, Minnesota was using the same ball and shot 13-of-41 (31.7%) from 3, not great but better than Los Angeles.
Redick’s neuroses worked for the Lakers on opening night. There was far more motion in the Lakers’ offense this season and a lot less LeBron James standing at the top of the key pounding the ball into the ground, trying to direct the show (LeBron was off-ball a lot more). Anthony Davis was put in much better positions to thrive and the result was a 36-point, 16 rebound dominant performance where he was the best player on the floor. The Lakers went away from the 3-point shot in the second half because, as Redick noted postgame, they were able to get good shots inside — Los Angeles scored 72 points on 59 shots in the paint.
“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.”
These Lakers looked closer to the 2022-23 version that bullied teams inside and did so all the way to the Western Conference Finals.
It’s just one of 82, but it’s as good a start as Redick and the Lakers could have hoped for, controlling the game and knocking off a Timberwolves team that was in the Western Conference Finals a season ago (albeit with a different roster at key spots).
And think how much better they will look playing with broken-in basketballs.
