NBA teams usually try to avoid distractions, but on Monday, the Lakers welcomed one.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis had to leave their homes due to fires, while JJ Redick lost his. The fires haven’t even started to be rebuilt, and the strong winds kept many in the city nervous.
However, Redick, one of the most well-known faces of the fires, saw this as an opportunity to think about something else, even if just for a while.
“I think a group functions best when you draw strength from each other. And the way my players, my staff, the organization has supported, rallied around me — rallied around the city, clearly — loved on my family, there’s real strength in that.
And that’s the sort of receiving of strength. Then it’s our job to go give strength, and give hope and give joy,” Redick said before the game. “Sports are a lot of things and sports can certainly provide an escape and a distraction and hopefully sports, and tonight, can provide some joy as well.”
In that sense, the game was a success — fans enjoyed watching James and Davis try to deal with Victor Wembanyama’s towering 7-foot-3 frame after the Lakers’ last two games had been postponed due to the fires.
However, the distraction didn’t fix the Lakers’ problems on the basketball court. The Spurs played with more toughness, taking control of the game and winning 126-102, handing the Lakers their third straight loss, at a time when the events off the court seemed more important.
“I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Just, we come out and play — win, lose, draw — this game is over and everything’s still going on in the world,” Davis said. “So, bittersweet in a sense because we still have people who are dealing with real-life situations. And we get to go out here and play basketball. So it’s kinda tough.
“Obviously, we still have a job to do and at some point, we’re going to have to play basketball again, go back to work. We tried to, obviously, get this win. We never want to lose. But with the Rams winning and … us trying to, get the win and bring a little bit of joy to the city, for a little bit.”
Davis and James combined for 48 points on 20-for-29 shooting, but the Lakers’ other players struggled. Austin Reaves became a target for the Spurs after they pulled Davis away from the rim. The Spurs pushed through players like Rui Hachimura and Max Christie.
The Lakers didn’t respond well, allowing 73 points in the second half.
“The point of attack was not good tonight, and I’ll have to look at the film,” Redick said. “I turned to [assistant Ty Abbott], who had the scout today, and I just was like, ‘Man, feels like there’s no one to the paint for us.’ That’s what I saw in real time. Obviously, I’ll have to look at the tape, but everything was at the rim — 66 points in the paint. That’s tough.”
The loss was made worse by the Lakers’ poor offense in the fourth quarter when they scored just 13 points.
Trouble for the Lakers came late in the third quarter when they were up by 10. San Antonio went on a 10-point run without Redick or the bench calling a timeout. The Spurs kept their momentum going into the fourth.
“We were eager to play basketball again in front of our fans. Sucks that we weren’t able to get to win,” Davis said.
In addition to their first game back after the wildfire delays, the Lakers also held a planned celebration for their past.
At halftime, the team retired Michael Cooper’s No. 21 jersey. This honor came after Cooper earned a spot in the 2024 Basketball Hall of Fame class. Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon, Byron Scott, and Pat Riley were among the former Lakers who attended the ceremony.
Cooper had been part of many celebrations for others; this was his turn.
“I’ve always tried to play the game the right way. And it’s such a good feeling that people recognize that,” Cooper said. “Although I’ve always been on a team with a lot of mega stars, so sometimes I got overshadowed, but that didn’t bother me because it was about the body of work that we were putting together and winning championships.
So for my turn to be, come to the plate and step up here and be on the podium by myself with everybody looking is very, very good. Because again, like I said, this came out of nowhere.”
That celebration was one of the few positive moments of the night. But it wasn’t the last.
As the Lakers walked off the court feeling defeated, Redick went to midcourt where Wembanyama and Chris Paul gave Redick’s sons, Knox and Kai, their jerseys. The boys had lost many of their cherished memorabilia in the Palisades fire.
“[Chris Paul] called me this afternoon and said, ‘Vic and I are gonna go, whether you win or we win, we’re gonna go over and give the boys jerseys,’” Redick said. “He’s well-aware they’re huge NBA fans. … I ran a podcast out of my home for two years and all the players would come through and they would get either a jersey or a card signed.
They had a collection of jerseys and cards, and they lost all that. So it was nice of them to do it. They now each have two because Austin [Reaves] was nice enough to leave a couple for them in his locker after practice the other day. So I just, again, appreciate all the love.”
It was a reminder that, despite the tough game, it was still nice to return to basketball. But the road back wasn’t easy.
