The Los Angeles Lakers suffered their first defeat of the season on Monday night.
Devin Booker and Kevin Durant bagged 66 points between them to lead the Phoenix Suns to an impressive 109-105 win after a late turnaround.
The Lakers suffered their first defeat of the season against the SunsGetty
The Lakers had gone into the match with a 3-0 start under new head coach JJ Redick, and made a superb start to the game.
They took a commanding 26-8 lead and appeared to be on the verge of starting the season 4-0 for much of the night, with a 83-76 advantage heading into the fourth.
But the Lakers couldn’t hold on, and Durant made back-to-back jumpers to give Phoenix a 105-101 lead with just over two minutes left.
LA were unable to regain control and instead of moving to 4-0, slip to 3-1.
Star player LeBron James had a particularly rough night, registering just 11 points.
He also got an earful from his coach in the second quarter.
James uncharacteristically picked up a shot clock violation, and Redick’s furious court-side reaction was captured by NBA cameras.
“Shoot the f****** ball,” he appeared to yell at his stars.
The footage quickly went viral, with many fans praising Redick’s outburst.
“That’s why he’s a good coach. Not scared,” one person wrote.
Redick wasn’t afraid to dish out harsh words to his players on a disappointing night for LakersGetty
“No other coach would say that to LeBron,” another pointed out.
A third added: “Not gonna lie, I didn’t see this coming. JJ is looking good as the coach.”
Redick showed similar passion in the locker-room after the game, which was the first official loss of his coaching career.
“He let out a nice little F-word, which just shows how much he cares,” Austin Reaves said of the coach’s message.
“His passion is on another level. You can tell every single second of every day that he’s locked into the betterment of our group.”
Redick also apologised to the team for what he believed were two mistakes – then brought those up in his postgame press conference.
Redick took responsibility for the Lakers defeat after the game
“I have to go watch it, but it felt like, in some ways, we lost to Kevin Durant and Booker’s ability to make tough 2s,” he admitted.
“If there’s one thing to nitpick, it’s probably me.
“I probably should have gone to the fire a possession or two earlier against KD, but I liked that group that we had out there defensively. I trust those guys.
Durant scored 30 points as the Suns beat the LakersGetty
“The other thing I will say, is that we should never have a 14-point quarter. That’s on me too. I’ve got to make sure we’re running good offense.”
The Lakers have a chance to bounce back against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday evening.
