Lakers’ Redick downplays quarrel with Vanderbilt as ‘normal’

Los Angeles– lakers Coach JJ Redick said a “confluence of things” led to the heated exchange between him and the Lakers forward jared vanderbilt LA lost 123-87 in the second quarter. oklahoma city thunder On Tuesday.

Redick called a timeout with just 16 seconds left in the second quarter to put Vanderbilt out of the game, telling the second-year guard. Dalton Connacht To investigate instead. After learning of the decision, Vanderbilt approached Redick near the free throw line while the coach was preparing to diagram a play on a dry erase board and let him listen to it.

lakers guard Austin ReevesHe was wearing street clothes after suffering a Grade 2 left oblique strain last week, and Lakers assistant coach Nate McMillan stepped between Vanderbilt and Redick to create a barrier between the two.

Asked about the conversation after the game, Redick said, “Nothing personal with him. It’s just normal from my end.” “I think for all of us, being underdogs, we have to scrape and claw, we all have to be on the same page, we have to be great teammates, we all have to work hard. He called a timeout to take him out of the game. And he responded.

“But then again, normal conversation for me.”

Redick benched Vanderbilt for the remainder of the game. In five minutes of playing time he finished with three points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal, despite L.A. missing five of its main rotation players in Reeves, luka doncic (left hamstring stretch), Lebron James (pain in left leg), marcus smart (right ankle injury) and jackson hayes (pain in left leg). Vanderbilt left the field before the locker rooms were opened to reporters after the game.

Despite being healthy, Vanderbilt appeared in 62 games this season, sitting out nine of 10 games from mid-November to early December and then eight of 17 contests in March due to being held out by coach’s decision. Reddick also gave Rui HachimuraWho started Tuesday’s game, a quick hook in the first quarter, pulled it up just two minutes and 27 seconds after tip-off and put the rookie adou thier In his place in the lineup.

“I called the early timeout because Rui didn’t do his job, so I took him out of the game,” Redick said. “We have to find nine people who are fighting with us and are willing to go out… [and do] Whatever you need to do to go out and fight and join the team. We will find nine people. “This is a great opportunity for us to find those guys over the next three games.”

Redick brought Hachimura back into the game with 3:24 remaining in the first quarter and he finished with a team-high 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting.

Hachimura declined to speak to reporters after the game.

Los Angeles (50-29) is No. 4 in the Western Conference standings with three games remaining on its regular-season schedule, which begins Thursday. Golden State Warriors.

Immediately after Doncic’s injury, Redick said his team’s goal was to capture the No. 3 seed in the West, but after Reeves was diagnosed with an oblique strain and the Lakers lost. dallas mavericks On Sunday, he adjusted that stance on Tuesday.

“You obviously have to deal with the situation in front of you, which is a unique situation that we have,” Redick said. “And we have to prepare our team, our group that we will have available to play in the playoff series. … How we approach moving forward into Game 1 next week is figuring out who is going to be able to play for us in the playoffs. … The seeding part probably went out the window after the OKC game.”