As we expected a solid reaction following Charles Barkley’s criticism of JJ Redick, the Lakers coach didn’t disappoint us. JJ Redick responded to Basketball Hall of Famer on his ‘dead man walking’ remark. The whole drama caught fire within a day and the rookie head coach didn’t hold back.
JJ Redick remained unfazed after facing a personal attack from Barkley who become a fiery critique of the coaching style of the 40-year-old NBA coach. Apart from that, Redick’s side responded with another home win and moved into fourth place in Western Conference.
“I didn’t make it all the way through the clip, I gotta be honest with you,” Redick said before the Lakers hosted the Atlanta Hawks. “My resting heart rate is probably 64. I watched the clip, it was 64. Literally don’t care. I have other thoughts, but don’t care.”
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The whole drama started when Barkley made a blunt remark on JJ Redick after the number of three-point shots attempted was mentioned. He gave a reference of Redick’s last month’s statement when NBA ratings dropped to 19% from the previous year.
“(Redick) said we’re the reason people aren’t watching. No, it’s this crappy product on the court,” Barkley admitted. “JJ, you come for the king, you better not miss. The Lakers stink, and you can’t hide those flaws.”
Actually, JJ said earlier on Dec. 19, “I don’t think we as, and by we, I was part of it, we as the sort of national partners have done a good job of storytelling, of celebrating the game. If I’m a casual fan and you tell me every time I turn on the television that the product sucks, well I’m not gonna watch the product.”
Barkley also questioned Redick’s lack of professional coaching experience and made a mockery out of it, saying his only prior experience was coaching his son’s elementary school basketball team.
“You can’t hide them flaws they got. You just a dead man walking, Barkley exclaimed. “They got rid of Frank Vogel, who did a good job. They got rid of Darvin Ham, who did a good job. You came out there thinking you were gonna change things with that same ugly girl you went on the date with.”
Two Lakers assistants, Greg St. Jean and Beau Levesque showed JJ Redick the clip of Barkley’s comments. Meanwhile, the Lakers have improved after a slump and won seven out of the last nine games. LeBron James scored 30 points to create history on Friday to lead the Lakers to a third win in a four-game homestand.
Image Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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