The Los Angeles Lakers responded well to their Game 1 loss after winning a tightly-contested Game 2 at home, but Game 3 presented a different challenge as the team found themselves on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Lakers knew to expect an early surge from a Timberwolves team that clearly believes they can win the series, so it was no surprise to see the team fall behind early. Despite a sluggish start, Los Angeles managed to hang around throughout the evening and even put themselves in a position to win the game after Luka Doncic tied things up in the fourth quarter.
However, some poor shot and decision-making ended up costing the Lakers the win as the Timberwolves went on to run away with things at the end. Turnovers prevented Los Angeles from ever truly making a run, something that can’t happen on the road in the postseason.
Head coach JJ Redick was visibly upset with some of the turnovers the Lakers committed and he admitted that they played a massive part in the loss, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“We’re minus 16 in scoring opportunities. It’s really hard to win a basketball game in that scenario, particularly against a team that can also get hot from 3, which they did in the second half. Some of that were mistakes, some of that was shot-making. Down the stretch, they made 3s, we didn’t make 3s. I thought we had some good looks. As far as the turnovers, look, they’re big, they’re long, they’re athletic, they pressure the basketball, they make everything tough. We’re gonna have some turnovers. Sometimes they force you into turnovers, which they did. We had I think it was three shot clock violations. But we also had some unforced turnovers. Over-dribbling, trying to draw fouls, dribbling into traffic, trying to do a little bit too much with the basketball. For us, We generated a lot of really good shots tonight when we didn’t turn the ball over.”
As Redick noted, L.A. actually had a few solid offensive possessions that ended in a quality look but far too often they got in their own way. To Minnesota’s credit, their ball pressure and rotations flustered the purple and gold, but there are also a number of plays that were careless.
In a playoff series between two evenly-matched teams, taking care of the basketball becomes a priority as easy points are a lot harder to come by. The Lakers committed 19 turnovers compared to 11 for the Timberwolves, but that resulted in 28 points for Minnesota. Meanwhile, Los Angeles only managed to score 13 points on their opponent’s mistakes.
That kind of disparity can easily swing a playoff game and even a series, so Redick and the coaching staff will need to emphasize that ahead of Game 4. While the Lakers have been good about responding after losses, winning Game 4 will be an incredibly difficult challenge.
LeBron James believes Lakers responded well to JJ Redick’s tirade in Game 2
JJ Redick went viral after Game 2 as video caught him laying into the Lakers during a timeout. The plan worked, though, as the Lakers went on to win the game behind a spirited two-way effort from the players.
LeBron James later said he believes he and the team responded well to Redick’s tirade.
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