Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - BONUS EPISODE: Redick, Ayton Discuss The Lakers' Strong Late-Game Defense

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

Twenty-three games into the season, by and large, the Lakers have been a fairly unimpressive defensive team. It's not necessarily a shock, given a roster that doesn't feature many plus-defenders, particularly among the players slated to log the most minutes. For the opening three quarters of contests, the Lakers often get by despite their defense, rather than through the strength of it.However, once the fourth quarter begins, and especially in the last five minutes of games (otherwise known as "clutch time"), something pretty crazy has regularly taken place. The Lakers morph into a good defense. During clutch time, they become downright elite. The clutch time sample size (eight games) isn't massive, but it's hardly insignificant. Either way, it's very consistent and belies the opening 36 minutes of games. So what the hell is going on? How and why is this happening?During Tuesday's Lakers practice, Locked On Lakers co-host Andy Kamenetzky asked JJ Redick and Deandre Ayton to share some thoughts, then offered some of his own. HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky  Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclubSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Mint MobileTurn your expensive wireless present into a huge wireless savings future by switching to Mint.Shop Mint Unlimited Plans at http://MINTMOBILE.com/LOCKEDONNBA.Disclaimer: Limited time offer. Upfront payment of: $45 for 3-mo., $90 for 6-mo., or $180 for 12-mo. plan required($15/mo. equivalent). Taxes & feesInitial plan term only.  Greater Than 35GB may slow when network is busy. Capable device required. Availability, speed, & coverage varies. See mintmobile.com.QuoMake this the year where no opportunity and no customer slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to https://www.Quo.com/lockedonnba.Quo — no missed calls, no missed customers.ZocdocStop putting off your doctor’s appointments and get the care you need.Go to htps://Zocdoc.com/lockedonnba to find and instantly book a top-rated doctortoday.RobinhoodYou expect more from yourself. Expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com/yourmoney. Your money. Your move. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Options, futures, and crypto trading carry significant risk and may not suit all investors. Securities offered through Robinhood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Futures trading is offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC and not SPIC or FDIC protected. Crypto offered through Robinhood Crypto, LLC (NMLS ID 1702840), not FDIC or SIPC protected. Portfolio management offered by Robinhood Strategies, an SEC-registered advisor.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's up and welcome to a special bonus mini episode of Locked-on Lakers. The Lakers have been a pretty mid-defense until the fourth quarter and especially clutch time when they become somewhere between very good and absolutely elite. What is happening? J.J. Reddick and DeAndre Aiton offered some thoughts during Tuesday's practice. That is coming up next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcasts network.

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in the comments section, leaving us thoughts that we often implement into the show, whether you are listening, whether you are watching, whether you are preferably doing both. Thank you very much. as always, make sure you are subscribing so you never miss shows like,

particularly this one that was kind of impromptu. And Brian and I during Wednesday's full show, spent a lot of the time talking about Rich Paul's comments about the Lakers and LeBron on his new podcast game over with Max Kellerman. But as part of the rundown, I had mentioned that JJ Redick and D'Andre Aiton, I asked them some thoughts about the Lakers' fourth quarter, and clutch time defense, which has been very, very good this season. And a big part of the reason that

the Lakers are 8 and 0 in clutch time games this season per the NBA stats. Clutch time is defined as the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score is five points or less. So really, when it starts getting down to the nitty gritty and the stakes are the highest in the fourth quarter, That's actually when the Lakers defense has been really consistently, and one could say out of character, successful to reset the stage for some of these stats to put this in perspective. The Lakers have the number one clutch time defensive rating, 85.7 for those who don't know, lower the better for defensive rating. 85.7 is amazing. That's like Bad Boys Pistons era. defense. It is the last time I checked 48 hours ago, nearly 10 points better than the thunder. It is a big reason that their net rating in clutch time is almost 27, which is last check,

third only behind the thunder and the pistons. They have the number one clutch time defense for opponent field goal percentage, the number one clutch time defense for effective field goal percentage for opponents and the fourth best opponent three point percentage in clutch time. The Lakers have just been completely different. Everybody who's played at least three clutch time games for the Lakers has a defensive rating insofar as the rotation guys who played at least three clutch time games has a defensive rating of 92.6 or better. That's Luca, LeBron, Austin Reeves, Rui Hachamara, Marcus Smart, Dianre and Jake LaRavia.

Laker in the rotation has played in all eight of these clutch time games. The most have been either Jake LaRavia or Rue Hachamura with seven, followed by Austin Reeves and Giannih, and it's six. In other words, this has been something where it's not just the stars of the team carrying them through it. Luke and LeBron have actually played the least of these. So this is something that is taking over for the entire Lakers defense in the fourth quarter, their fourth quarter defensive rating is, last I checked, 111.21.1 in the league, five points better than their overall defensive rating. So in other words, this is something that is beginning in the fourth quarter. And as the fourth quarter progresses, particularly in these games that are close, the Lakers

have been just exceptional defending. And of their eight clutch time wins, six of them, I consider to be quality or at least solid timber wolves, the grizzlies before the bottom felled out for them and all the chaos ensued. Portland was on the second end of a back-to-back on the road without Luca, LeBron, or Austin, the spurs, the raptors, and the Sixers. Those are all somewhere between solid to quality clutch time wins and thought it was appropriate to re-explore this with, again, one of those wins being the spurs and that being tonight's opponent in the quarterfinals. So, I asked JJ Reddick to begin during Tuesday's practice about this. And I found our exchange very entertaining, but also giving some glimpses of how

JJ feels about this, even if he didn't want to share everything on his mind, as you will see. Apologies in advance for whatever reason. The video transfer was not as sharp as it is on the iPhone that I use to film all this. I have no idea why, but nothing I can do about it. But anyway, this is the first part of my exchange with JJ Redick. If your guys' fourth quarter defensive metrics are very good and outstanding, is there something in particular that's working for you guys in that fourth quarter defensively or without giving away too much, obviously.

I can see what you think. You'd be surprised at what I just thought. I'm not going to share what I just. I was going to say it. I was not going to share what I just. Reveal the surprise. It's a good question. And I'd probably, you know, every game is so different.

Again, we played, I think it's 23 games and eight of those have been clutch. So it's, you're picking and choosing sort of singular things. You'd have to go back and sort of look. I just, I know as the game progressed in Philadelphia, our physicality. And we had teach tape physicality off the ball. And it was a number of guys. It was AR. It was Rui.

It was Jake. And, you know, I've mentioned D. his defense in the second half, you know, was so much better. There's an angle pick and roll in the first half where he calls ICE and he stands with Embed as Maxi just drives because AR changes his foot ankle. Maxi just drives in for a layup. Second half, it was night and day in terms of his pick and roll coverage. He did a good job of playing cat and mouse, not allowing roller behind, not stepping up, forcing tough contestant twos when he was in those situations. So, you know, it's different every game.

You know, you play a team that's maybe a little bit slower and the game slows down even further. Like we've had some of those games in the fourth quarter. So we just, the defense for us, we just got to continue to try and get marginally better at a bunch of different things. And I wish we had to pinpoint one thing and say, we've got to get better at this. But it's marginally better at a bunch of different things.

A little bit later, I'll get into some theorizing about what I think, may have been thinking and not wanting to share because a follow-up question I had for him, I think offered a little bit of insight into that. But in the meantime, DeAndre Aiton was cited as one of the guys really stepping things up in the fourth quarter and down the stretch in the win over the Sixers in Philadelphia. And I asked Aiton if things were different in their fourth quarter defense or if this was a matter of heightened focus, heightened urgency. here's what DeAndre had to say. Yeah, a little bit of both. I think coming out to half, you know, I think we first half, you know,

sometimes teams get a lot of points. Then there's 60 points in the half of us. And we get back to regrouping, you know, regrouping in that half-time break, you know. Tends to kick in at the end of the third going into the fourth. So we're super locked in and we're changing up coverages on the defense. It's been like crazy. And, you know, we're just interrupted.

people's offense insane, you know, just switching on to bars and he switching on to guards and keeping up with bars. You know, the coach is trusting that and we leave it like that. I think that's a great thing we do is, you know, being versatile on the defensive where we can switch one through five and, you know, just give teams different looks. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Mint Mobile. There is no reason to let big wireless drain your wallet, especially during the holidays. Right now, Mitt Mobile is running their best deal of the year, all of their unlimited plans

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different games to try to see some of the stuff I can pick up on. And frankly, there will be things that I wouldn't be able to notice and probably would need somebody like a player or JJ or somebody who really specializes in film work to pick up all those nuances. But there is just a question of how much are you dialing into this? Like how much of this is really just okay? We recognize time score situation and the urgency is at a heightened level. And we just have to now execute better

because we recognize what's going on right now. And I asked JJ just the question of heightened focus, heightened urgency, how much does that lead into this great clutch time performance. You know, again, that's why I preach playing hard, and it's why I preach physicality, and it's why I preach the importance of every possession all the time. I don't know, I've played on teams that have done that.

I certainly have watched teams over the last 20 years that have done that. We're not there yet, and I would say most teams aren't there yet. I think it's, the NBA is, you know, philosophically, there's so much that is incredibly different about the NBA right now than even when I played towards the end of my career and saw some of that evolution. But I know our guys can do it. That's the good thing. I know our guys can do it. We certainly have some limitations in terms of, you know, speed and having multiple point of attack offenders. but we have enough to have a good defense,

and we just got to keep getting marginally better. And this is ultimately, and I recognize I am speculating to some degree, but JJ left me no choice very actively and knowingly, but to speculate about the things that he didn't want to say because he simply wouldn't go there. The stuff that he wanted to say were I to guess was, we could do this more often if we really put our minds to doing this over the course of 48 minutes, we just don't.

And I think JJ probably recognizes that there's an element of human nature to this. I think he recognizes, as he acknowledged, this roster is not great defensively on paper. Like it is not equipped to be, forget the funders level of defense, which is looking like it could be historically good. And they have so many different plus defenders at different positions that they can throw out there over the course of 48 minutes and absolutely choke the life out of opponents. But I feel like JJ, without coming out and saying it was,

this is a matter of want and will. And how badly do they want to play this level of defense, if not for 48 minutes, for more than 10? 12 and spread out more throughout the course of a game and especially to start games. You know, we've talked before. The first quarter is often the least effective, least prolific, productive quarter for the Lakers. And it is often not exclusively, but often one of their worst defensive quarters.

So they're not often starting out the game, playing defense at the level that JJ certainly thinks they're capable of. is this a formula for playing with fire? We'll see. I mean, to the Lakers credit, if you think that they are playing this thing in a way that's flying pretty close to the sun, 8-0 is 8-0.

And 17-6, thus far is 17-6. They are doing a lot of winning. And maybe the reality is there's only so much of this that they are capable of over the course of 48 minutes. and the formula really is leveraging and maximizing the offense to the highest degree possible and then cranking up the defense down the stretch and really just executing at the highest level for 12 solid minutes.

And they think that that can be good enough. We will see. I mean, I think that's going to be a difficult, consistent formula for competing against the best teams in the league on a consistent basis. certainly, I think, if you end up in a playoff series against the Thunder, against the Nuggets, against the Rockets, you are going to have to play more consistent defense over 48 minutes. I also imagine these guys know that, and they recognize it's December, it's not April. There's a lot of time in between. But regardless, I thought this stuff was really interesting.

And after the Rich Paul conversation, which I also thought was interesting, went long, wanted to at least give Laker fans the opportunity to see this and let our locked on, Lakers audience weigh in on these thoughts from JJ Reddick. Leave your thoughts in the comments section for the YouTube channel. Again, appreciate everybody being there. And we will return, obviously, after tonight's Cup quarterfinals game against the Spurs. Locked on Lakers, again, available on YouTube, available on audio, everywhere you get your podcasts. And we will see everyone then.