Lakers, JJ Redick unveil most urgent point of improvement for NBA Playoffs

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TL;DR

The Los Angeles Lakers, led by Coach JJ Redick, are focusing on improving their rebounding as they prepare for the NBA Playoffs. Redick emphasized the need for better boxing out to secure second-chance points and close out defensive possessions.

Lakers, JJ Redick unveil most urgent point of improvement for NBA Playoffs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Los Angeles Lakers might literally be hanging on a thread. Coach JJ Redick does not have the luck of having Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic to start the NBA Playoffs. They will also have to manage LeBron James' schemes and time on the court to preserve him. Despite all of this, there is still one glaring problem that the squad has yet to fix amid all their woes.

Redick stresses Lakers' main NBA Playoffs improvement should be rebounding

Coach Redick made it very clear. They have lost a lot of games because the Lakers could not get second-chance points on offense or close out defensive possessions well. He outlined one thing that the LeBron James and the rest of the squad would be doing more as the NBA Playoffs start, via Dan Woike of The Athletic.

"We have got to box out. We’re going to place an emphasis on every drill in practice. We started practice with boxing out today. You have got to put it in their minds. That’s literally the only thing we said about Houston today. Today was about us. Having a practice, getting sharp with our stuff. Tomorrow, we’ll introduce Rockets personnel," the Lakers head coach said.

He is very right in his assessment. Under Coach Redick, the Lakers are near the bottom of the league when it comes to rebounding. They only grab 50 rebounds per game which is good for 27th in the NBA. These numbers get worse when nuanced to the offensive side of the ball. Even when James had Doncic and Reaves, the Lakers only grab 9.4 offensive rebounds per game.

"Thursday, we’ll do our scout, as we would. Friday will be a reinforcement of that scout. Saturday, we’ll be good to go. Only thing we did today was box out," Coach Redick added.

The NBA Playoffs are all able hiding a team's Achilles heel. If the Lakers led by Coach Redick and James are able to rebound better in the first round, they might not have to rush a return from Doncic and Reaves.