Luka Doncic looked worse for wear in Game 3 of the Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves as he had been dealing with a stomach bug that sapped him of his energy and endurance.
Despite the quick turnaround, though, Doncic was able to get enough rest in and looked close to full strength in Game 4 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. There were several instances of vintage Doncic, using his size and physicality to get into the paint for layups and even hitting some ridiculous shots from distance.
Although Doncic poured in a a team-high 38 points, it wasn’t enough as the Lakers couldn’t close it out and fell to the Timberwolves 116-113 and are now one game away from elimination. It was a dispiriting close to the game as the starting group plus Dorian Finney-Smith seemed to run out of gas and Minnesota made the shots necessary to pull off the comeback win.
Following the loss, Doncic made sure to emphasize that the series isn’t over yet, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“It’s definitely disappointing, but nothing is lost. We haven’t lost nothing yet. It’s first to four wins and we just gotta still believe.”
Doncic added that he thinks the Lakers will have some obvious motivation to win the next three games and is looking forward to the challenge:
“It’s a fun challenge. We should have extra motivation to win these next three games. It’s gonna be very hard, every possession’s gonna matter and we gotta go 100 percent no matter what.”
Doncic sounds like he genuinely believes Los Angeles can come back and beat Minnesota, but there’s no denying that the odds are stacked against them.
Even though they’ll have home-court for Game 5, the Timberwolves have already proven they can win on the road and all the series momentum seems to be on their side.
Doncic alone won’t be enough for the Lakers to climb out of this hole, but it’s hard to ask more out of someone like LeBron James, who is playing as hard as he can on both ends. Players like Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith have been inconsistent at times, but at this point it’ll take a total group effort to somehow climb back into this series.
Dorian Finney-Smith credits Luka Doncic for playing through illness in Game 3
Luka Doncic looked like he could barely run in the Game 3 against the Minnesota Timberwolves let alone carry the offense. Although Doncic wasn’t very effective, Dorian Finney-Smith still credited him for gutting it out.
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