𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

At Tuesday’s practice before flying to Oklahoma City, JJ Redick discussed how much of a priority limiting Oklahoma City Thunder runs is on Tuesday:

💬 “Rick Carlisle is like the master of that — the quick timeout. I’ve already told the staff, already told all the players — I’ve got to be more diligent than I normally am. I like my timeouts. I like going into the fourth quarter with four timeouts. I like having two in the last 30 seconds. I don’t think you have the luxury of like worrying about that. Because the game would get away from you so quick because of how explosive they are when they go on their runs. And they do that to everybody. They did it to Phoenix in the first round. They did it to us in the regular season. Even in their losses, they had, on average, an 8.3 scoring run, even in their losses. So, it’s what they do — mitigating the 12-15 point runs, I think, is really important.”

Redick didn’t have to worry about that in a first quarter that saw the Thunder have a field-goal drought of more than 5 1/2 minutes. But once the Thunder took that first double-digit lead of the game in the second quarter? Timeout. Once the lead got back to double digits again? Timeout.

This was the first time the Lakers weren’t down 30-plus points at halftime in Oklahoma City. When the Lakers went on an 8-2 run in the third quarter, it was only a 69-65 lead for Oklahoma City.

But when Thunder went on a 7-0 lead, there was Redick again, using a timeout with 4:35 left to play in the third quarter that left him with two left for the game. When the Thunder took a 15-point lead with 10:41 left to play, Redick used his penultimate timeout. Redick did as he promised — the Thunder didn’t take a 20-point lead until after white flag time, and they never got on a 10-0 run. There’s not much Redick can do to close the talent gap, especially if Austin Reaves and Marcus Smart are going to miss 24 of 31 shots. But Redick is determined not to let the Thunder run away with these games.