First-year Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick seemed to channel the ghost of fallen L.A. legend Kobe Bryant after a postgame presser on Friday night.
Although he had helped the Lakers clinch the Western Conference's No. 3 seed and their first 50-win season since 2019-20 (LeBron James and Markieff Morris are the only roster holdovers from that team), Redick seemed relatively unsatisfied by the 140-109 blowout victory over the Houston Rockets.
In fairness, the 52-win Rockets had already been locked into the West's second seed and were resting most of their top players.
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L.A.'s regular season finale is scheduled for Sunday against the tanking Portland Trail Blazers.
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) April 12, 2025JJ Redick on his first season as Lakers coach, clinching the 3rd seed & being a 50-win team:
“Jobs not done” 😤
h/t @LSH_lakeshow
"It's not done," Redick said in response to being asked how his first season went. "I spent all of three-and-a-half minutes on the flight back from Dallas just thinking about making the playoffs and thinking about the coaching profession and I think, as a coach, you're obviously judged on regular season wins and losses and your ability to get to the playoffs."
The Lakers bested L.A. superstar guard Luka Doncic's former team, the Dallas Mavericks, on Wednesday. The Rockets tilt represented the Lakers' second straight win.
"But I think that the other two things that you're judged on are the way you're able to handle the pressure of the playoffs, the adjustments, the in-game stuff — there's still so much work that we have to do, myself, our staff — and then I think you're also judged on the culture you create, and whether or not your players like coming in to work," Redick added.
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Redick's "It's not done" sound bite harkens back to a statement deceased L.A. legend Kobe Bryant issued when discussing his then-ongoing 2009 NBA Finals series against Redick's team at the time, the Orlando Magic, led by eventual Los Angeles champ and Hall of Fame center Dwight Howard and All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson.
At the time, Bryant and Hall of Fame big man Pau Gasol had brought L.A. up to a 2-0 series edge over Orlando. When asked at his postgame presser why he seemed so non-plussed by an encouraging series advantage (teams with 2-0 leads have gone on to win their series 92.5 percent of the time), Bryant had a memorable line.
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) June 7, 2024“Job’s not finished.”
15 years ago today Kobe Bryant gave an iconic quote after going up 2-0 in the 2009 NBA Finals! pic.twitter.com/BZqOYYIppb
"What's there to be happy about? Job's not finished," Bryant stated plainly. "Job finished? I don't think so."
The 18-time All-Star shooting guard, who had lost both of his previous Finals series at the time (to the Boston Celtics in six games the year before and to the Detroit Pistons in five contests circa 2004), would go on to beat Orlando in five games, for the first of two back-to-back championships for L.A.
Bryant, one of the best Lakers in franchise history, was second-generation basketball royalty. The son of former journeyman NBA center Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, Kobe was raised in a world of basketball stars, with the unfettered access only granted to family.
As Joe Bryant once told NBA insider Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson, Bryant's formative years helped mold him into the ferocious competitor he would later become.
“Well, I figure it is helpful in the sense that our children get a chance to meet or go places where the normal child doesn’t get a chance to go to, you know?” the elder Bryant said. “After a game, when you’re 10, 11, or 12 years old you can go in the locker room and talk to Magic or talk to Kareem, or talk to George Gervin… You get a chance to get on the court and shoot around with them where a lot of kids don’t get that opportunity…”
During that 2009 Finals series, Kobe Bryant averaged 32.4 points on relatively efficient .430/.360/.841 shooting splits, along with 7.4 assists, 5.6 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks a night. He was named Finals MVP for his heroics.
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