Try as they might, the Los Angeles Lakers could not hold off the Minnesota Timberwolves down the stretch of their Game 4 loss. The Lakers managed just 19 points in the fourth quarter while Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards scored 16 on his own to lead his squad to victory and a 3-1 series lead.
Of course, a big story coming out of that game was JJ Redick’s decision to stick with just five players for the entire second half, leading many to question whether fatigue cost the Lakers. While Luka Doncic disputed that notion and Redick said he had no regrets, Edwards certainly felt that way in the moment.
After the game, Edwards, who finished with 43 points on the night, said that he felt the Lakers were gassed down the stretch of Game 4 so his goal was to keep pushing as hard as he could, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
“I felt like they were gassed going down the stretch,” Edwards said after Minnesota erased a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit to win 116-113 and go up 3-1 in its first-round Western Conference series. “So just trying to keep my foot on the pedal and keep going.”
Only the Lakers themselves know just how tired they were on the court, but Edwards seemed to sense they were slowing down and thus, pushed faster. Regardless, the end result was a Timberwolves victory and now the Lakers have to figure out how to turn this series around as they are on the brink of elimination.
It was a gamble by Redick, to be sure, as even just a couple minutes here and there for one or two players could have given an extra boost that put the Lakers over the top. But Redick made his decision and the team felt it was the one necessary to pick up a win. Now, they will have to win three straight games and figure out how to better contain Edwards who has been the best player in this series so far.
Anthony Edwards trying to be a pest to Lakers’ LeBron James
One of the more entertaining subplots of Game 4 was the physicality between Lakers superstar LeBron James and Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards. LeBron is much bigger than Edwards, but the young star didn’t back down and continually pushed back against the Lakers superstar even leading to a couple of moments where the two were jawing back and forth.
Afterwards, Edwards spoke about his desire to simply be a ‘pest’ to James and get under his skin. Edwards admitted that LeBron is much stronger, but he wanted to send a message that he and the Timberwolves were not gonna be pushed around by the Lakers.
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