Austin Reaves Credits JJ Redick For Lakers Rally vs Heat Due to Halftime Speech

The Los Angeles Lakers avoided falling to a terrifying four-game losing streak on Wednesday night against the Miami Heat.

Los Angeles, which has developed a recent proclivity for falling behind early, fell behind the Heat by 12 points at the halftime break.

Lakers trail by 12 at the break. pic.twitter.com/yW3vQvrm1Z
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 16, 2025

Per Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles head coach JJ Redick informed his players that he needed more effort on team defense in the second half.

“There was nothing we changed schematically,” Redick said. “I implored our team to talk more and play harder.”

The Lakers apparently got t

“It was just the message we needed,” guard Austin Reaves said. “And I think most importantly, it got through to the group.”

Ultimately, L.A. also put forth a massive effort on the other end, outscoring the Heat by a demonstrative margin of 63-42. Clearly, the team's abysmal second-half performance against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night was lingering in the club's mind.

In the second half, the Lakers played connected basketball. Reaves was a big contributor to that, often acting as a set-up man to the set-up man with a flurry of so-called hockey assists.

#Lakeshow with the lead! pic.twitter.com/u57RmiCnZ6
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 16, 2025

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Los Angeles wound up winning, 117-108. Rui Hachimura led all Lakers with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field (2-of-5 from long range) and 3-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe, plus eight rebounds, one assist and one steal.

Nine-time Lakers All-Star center Anthony Davis secured a 22-point, 11-rebound double-double, while 20-time All-Star forward LeBron James notched 22 points, nine assists and five rebounds.

Redick indicated that he had been looking to motivate the club throughout the day, calling out the club's leadership efforts.

“I challenged the team across the board today in our meeting about leadership,” Redick said. “And leadership — people think about talking, obviously being vocal, talking in the huddles, whatever it may be."

"That certainly is a form of leadership. But leadership takes many forms. And I think talk is a requirement of the job as a basketball player. Talk is a requirement of the job," Redick noted.

“But leadership can be playing hard defensively," Redick allowed. "Leadership can be taking a charge. Leadership can be taking care of the basketball. It’s all about leadership and ownership for what you are supposed to do."

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Leadership and taking responsibility clearly were big themes for Redick.

"That’s your job," Redick said. "That’s leadership to me. And that’s a great example to me of leadership from AD — being the first to the floor in a tight game. It’s a momentum-swinging play for us.”

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