Redick: Russell’s minutes were cut due to the “level of competition.”

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick cited “certain habits” as the reason D’Angelo Russell was limited to a season-low 22 minutes in Wednesday’s 131-114 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

“Competition level, attention to detail. Some of the things we’ve been talking to him about for a couple of weeks,” Redick said when asked after the game about the starting guard’s reduced usage, according to Lakers Nation’s Daniel Starkand.

“Sometimes he was really good, sometimes he just fell into certain habits. It wasn’t a punishment, but in order for us to have a chance to win this game, we wanted to go that route.” (Gabe Vincent) “In the first half it was fantastic, especially in defense. I just wanted to see what it looked like.”

Russell, who entered Wednesday’s game having averaged 31.3 minutes in seven games this season, was replaced by Vincent with 5:54 left in the third quarter and never participated in the contest again. He finished with 12 points on 4 of 12 shooting, including 2 of 9 from downtown. He also had just three assists, his worst single-game record this season.

Immediately after coming on, Vincent hit a long step-back two-pointer that cut Memphis’ lead to nine, but the Grizzlies responded with a three-pointer from Jay Huff and the Lakers never got within single digits again. Memphis extended its largest lead a minute into the final frame when Luke Kennard – making his season debut after missing the first seven games with a foot muscle strain – scored his only three goals of the contest, lifting his team to 22 points.

Lakers star LeBron James scored a game-high 39 points while shooting 15 of 24 from the field and 6 of 11 from long range. He also contributed seven rebounds, six assists and one steal in the loss.

“LeBron was great — he’s almost 40 years old and played the hardest on our team,” Redick said, courtesy of Lakers reporter Mike Trudell.