JJ Redick reveals Lakers' efforts to get Austin Reaves back for NBA Playoffs
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JJ Redick reveals Lakers' efforts to get Austin Reaves back for NBA Playoffs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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The Los Angeles Lakers are in a very rough spot. Their guard depth has suddenly vanished because both Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic went down with injuries. These two will be out for the remainder of the regular season. But, it looks like Coach JJ Redick has a plan so that he would be able to get at least one of them back in time for the NBA Playoffs.
Redick knows Lakers' data will help them get Reaves back for NBA Playoffs
The Lakers are beginning to lose after not having both Doncic and Reaves. They have now suffered a horrific 139-96 blowout to the Oklahoma City Thunder and also dropped a 134-128 game to the tanking Dallas Mavericks. Both of these losses have raised concerns about how Coach Redick will face the challenges of the NBA Playoffs without his two best guards. But, he does know that their medical staff would at least get Reaves back soon.
The Lakers head coach did seem to worry at first but those faded away because he knew that Reaves will try to make it back, via Dan Woike of The Athletic.
"I think, for both those guys, the nature of playing heavy minutes, that’s certainly a part of, like any equation when you’re trying to manage workloads. We also rely on the tracking data, and we’re looking at that after every game. You know, acceleration, jumps, workload, all of those things," the Lakers head coach said. "And there have been a few times this year where it’s gone, away from the standard deviation of whatever their baseline is, and we make the proper adjustments. There was, there was nothing leading into that game that would suggest either those guys were ‘running hot,’ as we call it."
Coach Redick and the rest of the Lakers roster have promised to extend their season as much as possible so that Reaves will be able to make a return during the NBA Playoffs. Will the data and stalling be enough to keep their Larry O'Brien trophy hopes alive?