JJ Redick defends LeBron James’ ‘Insane Miss’ in final moments of Lakers loss

The Los Angeles Lakers lost their first game of the season on Tuesday, dropping a close game to the Phoenix Suns. Devin Booker led Phoenix with 33 points and Kevin Durant added 30 in the 109-105 victory in Phoenix. LeBron James struggled, scoring 11 points on 3-of-14 shooting.

James would have had 12, but he intentionally missed a free throw in the final seconds with the Lakers trailing by two. Some questioned his decision as 6.4 seconds remained, but coach JJ Redick backed his star and former podcast co-host.

“Everyone who was on the floor knew what happened,” Redick told the press after the game. “It was a crazy miss to be honest. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an intentional miss that hit the bottom of the rim and then went straight down.”

Redick also explained the idea of ​​going for an intentional miss in that situation.

“You know, look, we didn’t have any timeouts,” Redick continued. “It was a choice that we made. I think that’s the right choice and I would make that choice again… with that amount of time. You know, they made three mistakes, so even if we were earlier in that game had made a mistake, they “We had great free throw shooters. They were going to do us wrong again. “So we had to get that possession to have a chance to draw or win.”

While it all makes sense, the fact that the Lakers won their first three games of the season certainly helped explain it.