JJ Redick Has High Praise for Walker Kessler After Win Over Pistons

With 8:50 left in Sunday's game at Detroit, center Walker Kessler had his own layup blocked, grabbed the rebound and put it right back in to push the Los Angeles Lakers ahead 92-89.

That one play pretty much summed up his night, and effort like that is how Los Angeles held on for a 121-116 win without guard Luka Doncic, who sat out with lower-back tightness.

Kessler finished with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 29 minutes.

Seven of his rebounds came on the offensive end, which was more than half of the Lakers' 12 offensive boards in a game where Detroit grabbed 18 of its own.

He saved some of his best work for the fourth quarter, when Kessler blocked a dunk try by guard Ausar Thompson with the Lakers up 97-94, scored on an and-one off another offensive rebound to make it 107-99, and then set up forward Ziaire Williams for a dunk that made it 109-102.

Guard Austin Reaves scored 43 and will get most of the attention, but Kessler made a lot of the plays that never make the highlight package.

Head coach JJ Redick brought up the seven offensive rebounds right away after the game and said it has been that way over the last six or seven games.

"He's just been relentless with keeping possessions alive for us," Redick said in his postgame comments on Spectrum SportsNet.

Redick also said Kessler was awesome protecting the rim and that he loves his consistency right now.

This is not the first time Redick has raved about his center this season, but this time the praise was about effort more than highlight blocks.

I like that he went there, because offensive rebounds rarely get the credit they deserve, and a team missing a guard who averages 40.1 points a night needs every extra shot it can find.

Redick nailed it with the word consistency, because Kessler has started all 11 games and is averaging 14.4 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks while shooting 69.4 percent from the field.

He has also been open about what the team still has to clean up, and his production has held steady from night to night.

That steadiness is a big reason the Lakers have held up without Doncic.

They are 2-0 in the games he has missed this season, they have won five straight and they sit at 9-2, first in the Western Conference.

A center who keeps extra possessions alive gives this team a safety net when its best player is out, and I would take that over a few more blocked shots any night.

The Lakers play at Atlanta on Monday to finish a back-to-back, and the Hawks are 7-4.

Doncic's status for that game had not been announced Monday morning, and guard Quentin Grimes did not return Sunday after a finger injury, so his status for Monday is unclear.

Kessler has already called Doncic his MVP, and nights like Sunday show he knows his job is to make sure the Lakers can still win when their star is out.