Redick praises LeBron, rips others' lack of effort in Lakers' loss - ESPN

MEMPHIS — After the Memphis Grizzlies 131-114 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, Desmond Bane crashed Scotty Pippen Jr.'s on-court interview to praise him for stealing the ball from LeBron James, as he closed the game out at point after Ja Morant exited with a right hamstring injury.

«See the way he snatched that ball from that old man over there?» Bane said while grabbing Pippen by the shoulders.

Over in losing locker room, Lakers coach JJ Redick used that «old man» as an example of how the rest of the roster should play.

«I think LeBron was fantastic tonight,» Redick said after James scored a season-high 39 points on 15-for-24 shooting with L.A. missing two starters in Anthony Davis (left heel contusion) and Rui Hachimura (illness). «Biggest thing that stood out.… He played hard. Almost 40 years old and played the hardest on our team. It says a lot about him.»

And it said a lot about the rest of L.A.'s team that ended their five-game road trip with another loss to go 1-4 overall and fall to 4-4 on the season.

During Redick's postgame remarks, the first-year coach was asked how he would address the perceived lack of effort with his team.

«I just did,» Redick said, plopping the microphone on the table in front of him to end the news conference.

As Redick made his way out of the room, he shouted back at reporters, «First thing I said to them.»

Redick began delivering the message by the way he distributed playing time.

He doled out just six minutes in the second half to D'Angelo Russell — and a season-low 22 minutes total — as he mixed up his rotation to try to find a spark.

«Just level of compete, attention to detail, some of the things we've talked with him about for a couple of weeks,» Redick said when asked