The Los Angeles Lakers actually did a decent job defending Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards in Game 1 of their playoff series. But their focus on him allowed for Jaden McDaniels to have huge game himself in the Timberwolves’ dominant victory.
McDaniels led Minnesota in scoring with 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field on Saturday and it wasn’t just with his 3-point shooting. While McDaniels was a perfect 3-of-3 from deep, he was more effective in the paint and his propensity to attack the rim was not an accident.
After the game, McDaniels noted that when the Lakers go small without Jaxson Hayes on the court, he is the tallest person out there and thus has no fear driving to the basket regularly.
“A little bit,” McDaniels said when asked if he knew he needed to attack the paint against the Lakers. “I just noticed at certain times when they had no rim protector in the game, when Jaxson Hayes wasn’t on the court. If he’s not on the court, I’m basically the tallest person out there. So I don’t think no one could really rim protect me because Jaxson Hayes wasn’t on the court. Just picking my spots at the right time.”
The Lakers’ lack of bigs has been a concern since making the Luka Doncic trade which sent away their best big in Anthony Davis. Hayes has done an excellent job of stepping up into a bigger role, but it has always felt the Lakers needed another big and McDaniels took advantage of that in Game 1. Head coach JJ Redick has been able to figure out some decent schemes to mask the Lakers’ lack of a true rim protector, but it didn’t matter to McDaniels on Saturday.
After that awful Game 1 performance, Redick and the Lakers are sure to make some adjustments to prevent McDaniels and the rest of the Timberwolves from repeating their success against the Lakers paint defense. If they can’t it will be very difficult to take down Minnesota in this series.
Austin Reaves admits he has to be better after Lakers’ Game 1 loss
With just 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting, Austin Reaves did not have the performance he needed to in Game 1 of the Lakers’ series against the Timberwolves and he admitted to as much after the game.
“Bad. Didn’t play very well,” he admitted. “Got a couple shots to go in the third quarter, but through the whole midst of the game, I have to be better. I have to help us control the game better and like I said, I’ll watch the film and get better.”
But Reaves also made sure to stress that it was only one game and the Lakers can begin to turn things around in Game 2.
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