The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a tough 123–116 loss to the Golden State Warriors on NBA Thursday night, unable to contain a vintage Stephen Curry performance. Despite a competitive showing, head coach JJ Redick’s squad couldn’t keep pace in the second half.
After the game, Redick addressed what went wrong, particularly in the second quarter. “I thought our first-shot defense was great throughout the first half,” Redick said. “But they had seven offensive rebounds for 12 points in the second quarter. We couldn’t score for six and a half minutes. I’m not surprised they switched everything — we expected that. We still put up 69 points in the second half against the same defense.”
Redick also pointed to a lack of movement and energy as key issues. “I think we got a little stagnant and didn’t move enough. You have to move, play with force, and flow into the next action. Sometimes when you exert so much energy on one end, you don’t have it on the other. I thought we played hard on defense in the first half, but the second-chance opportunities really hurt us during our comeback attempt.”
“There were several possessions where we got a stop, but they grabbed the offensive rebound and scored. Or it was a 50–50 ball, and they came away with it. We just couldn’t generate that momentum-swinging stretch — and a lot of that came down to giving up second chances.”
LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers controls the ball against Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors during the second half of a game at Crypto.com Arena on April 03, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Redick cites structural issues, Doncic’s defensive struggles exposed
One of the recurring problems throughout the night was the Lakers’ offensive spacing — something Redick admitted was a self-inflicted issue. “It wasn’t what they were doing — it was what we were doing,” Redick explained. “We showed the guys at halftime. The spacing alignments were off, we had the wrong guy in the dunker spot, the wrong guy in the corner.”
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Redick added: “The structure of what we’re trying to do — against reds, against switches — it’s about creating proper spacing, proper matchups, and getting the right guys in the right spots. We didn’t do that, and it led to turnovers.”
Additionally, Luka Doncic’s defensive limitations became more visible due to his off night offensively. Curry frequently sought switches until he was matched up against Doncic, exploiting the NBA matchup with ease and creating high-percentage looks.
