JJ Redick jokes that 'Monstars' took over Lakers in loss to Suns

The Los Angeles Lakers completely fell apart in the second quarter of their game against the Phoenix Suns on Monday by committing a flurry of turnovers, which led to plenty of easy transition scores for the Suns. In a matter of a few minutes, a game that was very competitive turned into a lopsided affair, as the Lakers went into halftime down 66-52.

Things only got worse from there. The Lakers trailed by as many as 25 points and ended up with a 125-108 loss. They had been on a seven-game winning streak, and something was a bit off about them, especially compared to most of their other games so far this season.

Head coach JJ Redick explained what may have gone wrong with his team while referencing a group of antagonists from the "Space Jam" series.

“[We] talked about it before the game to you guys and the team,” Redick said. “If you don’t play hard against that team, you’re gonna get exposed. So, multiple times in the first half, we have a numbers advantage in transition on the defensive end and guys just run by us. We talked about matching their physicality. [We] didn’t do that to any extent at any point in the game.

“Maybe there is brain fog from three in four nights. I don’t know. I don’t remember ever talking about going under versus lasers and [Collin] Gillespie’s making threes and Royce O’Neale is making threes going up. It’s a weird sort of thing. It really is. It’s like the ‘Monstars’ taking over people that you’ve grown to coach and they’re not doing anything that they normally do. It’s weird.”

Los Angeles committed 22 turnovers in Monday's game, 10 of which came in the second quarter, and it allowed the Suns to hold a 28-2 edge in fast-break points. Dillon Brooks strutted his way to 33 points, and afterward, he had some harsh words for LeBron James, who mustered just 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field.

That is the backdrop for a three-game road trip that will start for L.A. on Thursday when they take on the Toronto Raptors, an up-and-coming team that has burst out to a 14-7 record and is leading the NBA in fast-break points per game. After that, the team will take on the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers before returning home to play the San Antonio Spurs in the quarterfinal round of the Emirates NBA Cup.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: JJ Redick jokes that 'Monstars' took over Lakers in loss to Suns