JJ Redick spoke after the Lakers’ upset loss to the Nets and refused to blame injuries for the defeat.

JJ Redick addressed the Los Angeles Lakers’ 111-108 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. Speaking to the press, Redick wouldn’t allow the team to coast on their injury problems as an excuse for this loss.

He demanded that his team play better and not make the sloppy mistakes on both ends that they did tonight in future games, as it would not end well for them.

“A very low-level communication game for our team. I don’t think being short-handed is an excuse for how we played basketball tonight.”

“I just think it was an overall mentality tonight to take shortcuts. We just wanted to take shortcuts. They scored 20 points on us gambling… We ball-watched all night… Just shortcuts. If you want to be a good team and win in the NBA, you gotta do the hard stuff. We couldn’t even pass to each other or enter our offense… Don’t know what we’re doing… We just gotta be better.”

Clearly, Redick is frustrated with the way the Los Angeles Lakers played tonight. Given how careless they were with the ball and the inefficiency from Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic when it came to scoring. It was just a poor night on both ends of the floor for the Lakers, who weren’t able to combat the grit and fighting spirit of the young Brooklyn Nets team.

address their performance tonight during practice so that they don’t suffer the same fate in their remaining road games.

While JJ Redick was upset with the Lakers’ efforts, he did mention that towards the second half of the game, the Lakers started to pick things up and improve their efforts. He also acknowledged that Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic’s poor shooting nights were in part because of the defensive attention they faced, but they were able to move away and focus on setting up their teammates.

“We’ll use practice to clean things up and make sure everybody is on the same page… I actually thought we missed [some good looks] throughout the game. Those guys played well. They were obviously putting a lot of defensive attention on Luka and Austin. Those guys shot the ball well, but they had 22 assists between them.”

The Lakers don’t have time right now to dwell on this loss too much.

They can learn from their mistakes and make sure they don’t repeat them on Thursday night when they play the Milwaukee Bucks at 8 PM EST. The Bucks are an inconsistent team, but one that is very dangerous, especially with the prospect of Giannis Antetokounmpo feeding off the Lakers’ lack of size in the post.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) brings the ball up court against Brooklyn Nets forwards Cameron Johnson (2) and Ziaire Williams (8) during the first quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images