Lakers' JJ Redick Has Wild Response to Question About Closing Out Rockets

The Los Angeles Lakers have the opportunity to eliminate the Houston Rockets.

Elimination games are often described as “do-or-die” games, and Lakers head coach JJ Redick apparently takes that description literally.

The Lakers will host the Rockets for Game 5 of their first-round NBA playoffs series on Wednesday night. On Tuesday, Redick hosted a media scrum during practice and was asked about the difficulty of close-out games.

“Well, you have to kill them,” Redick said bluntly and with a completely straight face. “It’s difficult to kill someone. Survival instinct says, ‘I want to stay alive,’ so you’ve gotta be able to kill them. That’s what’s difficult.”

Before Game 3, Redick said, “The desperate team usually wins” and noted that the Lakers “can’t relax,” per The Athletic’s Dan Woike. Los Angeles went on to win Game 3 112-108 in overtime to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, but the Kevin Durant-less Rockets refused to be swept.

Houston rallied to pummel the Lakers 115-96 in Game 4 on Sunday, setting up Wednesday’s Game 5.

While the Rockets lost Durant to a sprained left ankle and a bone bruise, the Lakers have also been playing this series without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, their top two scorers this season.

Doncic suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain on April 2 and remains out indefinitely, while Reaves was diagnosed with a Grade 2 oblique muscle strain on April 4. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday that Reaves is “optimistic” that he’ll be able to play in Game 5 and “will be a game-time decision.”

Houston head coach Ime Udoka gave a discouraging “we’ll see” when asked about Durant’s availability for Game 5.

The defending champion, top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder await the winner of this series in the Western Conference semifinals. See the full NBA playoffs bracket here.

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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 4:42 PM.