Anthony Edwards spoke on the Minnesota Timberwolves’ resiliency after a 116-113 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, which gave the Wolves a commanding 3-1 series lead.
“I feel like we took their best punches throughout the game to start the third and end the third,” he said. “I felt like they was gassed going down the stretch.”
The Lakers were gassed because they threw everything they had at the Wolves to prevent going down 3-1 in the series, something that only eight teams have come back from over the history of the NBA. Despite the Lakers’ desperation, the Wolves were able to continue picking on the same weakness the Lakers have been unable to strengthen throughout the entire series.
The Lakers were the first team in playoff history to play the same lineup for the entire second half of a game (24 minutes). Redick spoke on the decision after the game.
“It’s not a planned thing to play five guys the entire second half,” Redick reiterated. “We asked them at the beginning of the fourth quarter – we told them we had two extra timeouts – if you need a sub, let us know. Those guys gave a lot.”
Redick made history with a lineup of Austin Reaves, Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, and Dorian Finney-Smith.
As a result, James played 46:14 minutes, only getting a 1:46 rest at the end of the first quarter. It resulted in 40-year-old James playing 36 straight minutes. Doncic played similar minutes, getting 2:11 seconds on the bench to start the second quarter before logging 33:49 minutes straight.
The increased minutes wore on the duo in the fourth quarter. They were minus-13 in the fourth with a minus-65.0 net rating. Conversely, they were plus-13 and had a plus-54.1 net rating in the third quarter. Doncic and James shot just 1 of 8, including 0 for 3 from 3 in the final frame. James went scoreless while Doncic scored seven points, 5 of which came from the free-throw line.
LA’s five-man lineup that played the second half was productive in the first half. They were plus-3 in 3:15 seconds due to Reaves’s foul trouble, which resulted in him playing only 1:37 in the second quarter.
Until the fourth quarter, that lineup had played 58 minutes together in the series and was plus-4 even though the Wolves won two of the first three games. Despite that group’s success, the move to not rest anyone at the beginning of the fourth was drastic and desperate and likely could have led to Minnesota’s win.
LA’s defensive rating plummeted to 160.0 (meaning they would allow 160 points in 100 possessions). The Wolves got multiple open shots above the break from 3. They shot 5 of 7, including two wide-open shots by Naz Reid.
The Lakers’ fatigue also showed up in their shooting. They went 5 for 18 from the field, just 27.8%, down from 50.0% in the first three quarters. LA’s fatigue allowed the Wolves to go on runs of six, eight, and five points in the fourth quarter, including a five-point run to close the game.
The Lakers will return home for game five on Wednesday night, but the series may already be over. The Wolves have exposed mismatches up and down LA’s roster. Doncic and James are minus-17 in 143 minutes, Doncic and Hachimura are minus-41 in 138, and James and Reaves are minus-18 in 136.
Only one of the 11 two-man lineups has a positive net rating after playing over 60 minutes, and that’s Doncic and Finney-Smith at a plus-2. For reference, they have five two-man lineups that are minus-23 or worse. Redick’s choice to close the game was desperate, but it may have been his only option to get back into the series.
The Wolves will now have three chances to close out the series and send Doncic and James home.
“I told them it’s going to be the toughest game that we’ve played all season, all series, because everyone is going to be against us,” said Edwards. “Back against the wall in enemy territory. These are the moments that we should live for – going on the road and trying to close a team out.”
The Wolves have shown they can rise in the playoffs, and four games in, they have given fans a lot of hope that this Wolves team could dethrone LeBron and solve Doncic. It will truly be a moment that everyone in Minnesota should live for.
