JJ Redick never leaves reporters guessing how he feels.
The head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers stormed out of his press conference following the ignominious 122-102 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena on Saturday night.
The post-match media address lasted a minute and a half, with the second-year skipper giving short one-sentence answers in a deadpan tone.
“There’s just not much to like about it tonight,” he said.
The Lakers took a beating from Atlanta’s B-team, while the Hawks played without their top four scorers, Trae Young, Jalen Johnson, Kristaps Porzingis and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
While LeBron James and Austin Reaves were sidelined for LA, that same Luka Doncic-led regime captured a powerful roster from the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
The Lakers hadn’t played since and came out flat after several days of rest. The Hawks, meanwhile, cruised to victory in the second leg of a back-to-back.
Redick credited Atlanta for bringing the “required level of effort, urgency and physicality,” a passive-aggressive jab at his squad for failing to do the same.
It didn’t come as a shock to Redick that the Lakers lost 19 times and trailed by as many as 30 points.
He could already tell in the first two minutes of the game that Los Angeles was not in the game, after which it never took the lead again.
Asked what he saw in the first 120 seconds, Redick said “nothing” – and walked out.
It is not the first time that Redick has stormed out of a printer in this way prior to the team’s Game 5 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves in last season’s playoffs.
Los Angeles had won five in a row before the humiliation in Atlanta, with a solid 7-3 record and a fourth-place finish in the Western Conference.
The Lakers will look to bounce back against the Charlotte Hornets as they resume their road trip Monday night.
#Redick #leaves #awkward #Lakers #press #conference #ugly #loss