JJ Redick’s crucial decision paid off in the Lakers’ win over the 76ers

Last summer in Las Vegas, a veteran NBA coach spoke about the Lakers’ decision to hire JJ Redick, noting that nothing can prepare anyone – an assistant, a broadcaster, whoever – for the enormous amount of decisions involved a head coach has to meet every evening.

Most of the choices are relatively minor – which play to call after a timeout, when to use a challenge, and how to adjust pick-and-roll coverage.

When it comes to making decisions, that’s a big part of the job.

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But on Friday night, after the Lakers had lost four of their last five games, Redick took a less usual path. He made a big decision.

After being benched in a loss to Memphis on Wednesday, Redick moved point guard D’Angelo Russell to the second unit in favor of Cam Reddish, who wasn’t even in the rotation three games ago.

Decisions like these are fraught with doubt, the kind of plays fans can hold against a coach, as they did a year ago when Darvin Ham sent Austin Reaves to the bench after nine games to start Reddish.

On Friday the move worked as well as possible for everyone involved. Reddish took over the responsibility of defending Philadelphia’s best perimeter player, Paul George. Reaves, freed from that responsibility, had his best shooting game of the season. Russell gave the Lakers’ toothless bench a lot of bite.

And most importantly, the Lakers won by defeating the 76ers 116-106 in their first game in Los Angeles after going 1-4 on the road.

LeBron James scored 21 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists, his second triple-double of the season. Anthony Davis scored 31 points to lead the Lakers, and the team made a season-high 16 three-pointers — including six from Reaves.

Russell scored 18 points off the bench, the most points scored by a Laker reserve player this season.

Redick retired Russell midway through the third quarter against the Grizzlies on Wednesday, citing a lack of attention to detail after the game. In a video from Russell’s final attempt against Memphis, an angry Redick could be seen slamming his chair onto the court several times in frustration.

“For me, basketball is an emotional game. I’m a competitive person, I’m a passionate person,” Redick said Friday before the game. “Sometimes you lose control of these emotions for a short time. It’s not the first time this has happened.”

Redick said he told Russell that the anger wasn’t directed at him specifically, but that the Lakers had made even more mistakes early in the second half of a game they thought was winnable. Redick said his conversation with Russell went well.

“DLo and I are fine. He’s great. He was a professional,” Redick said. “I asked him to do this…he’s a pick-and-roll player. And he plays in an offense that doesn’t have a lot of pick-and-rolls and high-ball screens. He was super professional; He was super coachable. He and I established a baseline level of our relationship this summer. We’re fine.”

A season ago, Russell was sent to the second unit for seven games. The fact that another coach made a similar decision this season points to some of the defensive issues Russell-Reaves has had in the backcourt at times.

On Friday, the split worked against Philadelphia, which was without point guard Tyrese Maxey and center Joel Embiid.

Now Redick faces the next big decision about how long he wants to stick with the change.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.